Donald Trump tried to blame Vice President Kamala Harris for a global downturn in financial markets, but MSNBC's Joe Scarborough turned his questioning on the former president's own economic record during his four-year presidency.
Markets seemed to stabilize early Tuesday following the biggest drop in Japan's Nikkei 225 index in more than 35 years. Trump had spent much of the previous day trying to pin the plunge on his newly ascended Democratic rival, but the "Morning Joe" host pointed out that Trump had presided over some of the darkest days in stock market history.
"The sell-off started in Japan with its market posting the worst day since 1987, which had a ripple effect around the world," said co-host Mika Brzezinski. "But that index recovered significantly today. Despite [Monday's] losses, the Dow closed about 7,500 points higher than when Donald Trump left the White House on Jan. 20, 2021."
That caught Scarborough's attention.
"I'm sorry, hold on – what'd you say?" he said. Could you read that again?"
"It closed higher than when Donald Trump left the White House on Jan. 20, 2021," Brzezinski replied.
"So you're saying right now, even after the bad day yesterday," Scarborough said, "it finished higher than when Donald Trump left office? People are that much richer that are calling [President Joe] Biden and Harris socialists. So can I just, if they're keeping score at home? The stock market is 7,500 points higher than it was when Donald Trump left office. Also, illegal border crossings are lower now than they were when Donald Trump left office. That's all I've got to say for now. It's pretty fascinating, what a great job Biden and Harris have done. I'm looking forward to hearing about it on other right-leaning networks."
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The hosts reminded viewers that Trump frequently claimed credit for stock market gains under Biden years after leaving office himself, and they rolled video of Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto telling his conservative audience how the ex-president was trying to have it both ways on the economy.
"Donald Trump and the market amazes me," Cavuto said. "When they're up, it's all because of him and looking forward to him. When they're down, it's all because of the Democrats and how horrific they are. Yet some of our biggest point falloffs, three of the biggest of the top 10, occurred during his administration.
"Now, a lot of those were in the COVID years, I get that, but, you know, you either own the markets or you don't. It does confuse me. I keep a very, very close look at all the records here, sell-offs and otherwise. Three big ones, the three biggest among them in the history of the markets, occurred during the Trump administration. They occurred under his watch, just want to remind you of that."
Scarborough was amazed by Cavuto's candor.
"Wow, three of the worst days in Wall Street history happened under Donald Trump," Scarborough said.
Watch the video below or at this link.
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