Former President Donald Trump said he wants the economy to crash soon so it could hurt President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
Trump made the comment in an interview with Lou Dobbs, a former Fox News host who was dumped by the network and is now doing a show on Lindell TV.
Asked what he would do to “restore primacy” to Americans “fighting for their economic and their real survival,” Trump said, “we will be drilling.”
“We will be reducing energy, that will bring down inflation, that will bring down interest rates,” he said.
Trump then railed against the economy while also claiming that its successes are due to the “fumes” from his administration.
“We have an economy that is incredible. We have an economy that is so fragile. And the only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did—what the Trump administration did. It’s just running off the fumes,” he said.
“And when there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during these next twelve months, because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,” he continued “The one president—I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover.”
Hoover took office when the economy was stable before the 1929 Great Depression hit.
The US economy defied expectations in 2023 after many economists predicted a recession. Inflation went down, job growth remained steady, wages went up and unemployment went down.
The labor market also ended the year on a high adding 216,000 jobs in December well-above the roughly 170,000 jobs economists expected. The unemployment rate held at 3.7%.
