Trump Tells Voters They Only Have Themselves to Blame as the Nasdaq 100 Suffers Its Worst Day Since 2020

Donald Trump has long treated the stock market as his personal scoreboard. On Thursday night, with the scoreboard flashing red, he pointed at the voters.

"The Stock Market crashed today because the Dumocrats had a big Tuesday," he posted on Truth Social, two days after Republicans lost the midterms in historic fashion. His verdict for the electorate: "you only have yourselves to blame!"

The worst day in more than six years

The damage was real. The Nasdaq 100 sank 6.4% on Thursday, its worst session since March 2020, wiping out $2.3 trillion in value. Chip giants and other tech names took heavy losses as AI linked stocks led the way down.

Investors were not shy about the reason. Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate, and Tuesday's blue wave carried in candidates who campaigned on restricting AI. Markets now fear tighter oversight of the industry, including the data center construction that has powered the trade.

Trump has strongly backed those data centers despite widespread opposition, and he has brushed aside proposals to restrict AI in favor of light regulation. A Congress that disagrees is exactly what the selloff priced in.

A delayed crash, and a quick claim of credit

The plunge arrived late. On Wednesday, as early results came in, markets rallied massively, and Trump was quick to claim credit for the highs. A day later he was assigning blame for the lows.

He kept going in a second post. "Such a sad thing to watch!" he wrote. "It took us so much work to get us to a level that no one has ever seen before, and then this." Then came the line aimed at retirement savers: "Your 401(k)s have, therefore, dropped. Remember, it wasn't Republicans, it was Dumocrats."

The tone had shifted fast. On Tuesday night, after weeks of casting doubt, Trump said he would accept the results, insisted he would have won in a landslide had he been on the ballot, and congratulated Democrats on a "good job." On Wednesday he blamed high fuel prices, stoked by his war in Iran, for the Republican wipeout, while maintaining the conflict was justified.

No relief yet

The rout did not stay in New York. By Friday it had rolled into Asia, where chip stocks crashed and SoftBank plunged after Wall Street's $3 trillion wipeout.

Late Thursday, US stock futures were down again and Asian markets were broadly lower, pointing to another rough session. The president who measures his success by the index now has a falling one, and he has already decided whose fault it is.

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