Trump Hopes US Economy Will Crash Within the Next Year

• Former President Donald Trump said he hopes the US economy will crash within the next year.
• That’s to avoid being a “Herbert Hoover,” who was president when the Great Depression began.
• Wall Street, though, is warming up to the possibility of a soft landing as inflation cools.

Former President Donald Trump hopes the US economy will crash within the 12 months so he doesn’t get the blame for a downturn if he wins a second term.

In a televised interview on Monday, he also said the economy is fragile and “running off of the fumes” of his accomplishments in his first term.

That came just days after fresh signs that the labor market remains robust, with the economy adding a higher-than-expected 216,000 jobs in December.

“When there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want a Herbert Hoover,” Trump told Lindell TV, according to CNN. “The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover.”

Hoover’s presidency was marred by economic turmoil in 1929, when the stock market experienced its most notorious crash and the Great Depression began. He held just one term as president, before handing over the reins to Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.

The US economy remained strong in the third quarter, with GDP growing 4.9% year over year. For the fourth quarter, growth is expected to have cooled, but still positive at a 1.3% clip, according to the Fed’s survey of professional forecasters.

Despite seeing stocks surge to end 2023, Wall Street’s most bearish commentators have been ringing the alarm for a potential crash in the market.

But experts are generally warming up to the possibility of a continued stock rally and a soft-landing, as inflation continues to cool and economic activity remains resilient.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect inflation to have ticked higher to 3.2% in December – still well-below the highs notched during the summer of 2022.