President Trump is pointing the finger at voters after Wall Street suffered its worst session in more than a year, blaming Americans who backed Democrats in Tuesday’s midterms for the sell-off.
“The Stock Market crashed today because the Dumocrats had a big Tuesday — So sad to see, you only have yourselves to blame!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday evening.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 5.52% on Thursday, while the S&P 500 dropped 4.36% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.44%, or more than 1,800 points. The sell-off wiped out roughly $3 trillion in market value from S&P 500 companies, with technology stocks hit hardest.
In a follow-up post, Trump said the market had suffered one of the worst days in history because of the election results, and warned Americans that their 401(k)s had dropped. He insisted Democrats, not Republicans, were to blame, while promising the country would soon come back bigger and stronger than ever.
The posts marked a sharp turn from just one day earlier. On Wednesday, after stocks rallied despite Democrats sweeping both chambers of Congress, Trump took credit for the market’s strength, boasting of another record high.
Thursday’s losses erased that post-election bounce. The selling was driven largely by artificial intelligence and technology stocks, as investors grew worried that a Democratic Congress could slow the rapid buildout of AI data centers, a sector that has powered much of the market’s gains this year.
Chipmaker Nvidia fell more than 9%, Advanced Micro Devices plunged about 17%, and Broadcom dropped roughly 10%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sank more than 12%, its second-largest one-day percentage drop on record. Data center companies were also hammered, with CoreWeave falling nearly 10%.
Concerns about data centers also showed up on the ballot. Voters across the country used Tuesday’s elections to push back on data center projects in their communities, citing electricity costs, water use and strain on local infrastructure. Of 41 local data center-related measures, 40 produced results favoring restrictions or opposing development, according to Ballotpedia.
The decline pushed the Nasdaq into correction territory, down at least 10% from its record high set in early October. All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 finished lower.
The timing is politically awkward for the president, who spent much of his second term pointing to stock market gains as proof his economic agenda was working. He has frequently dismissed voter concerns over affordability, while critics have pointed to the economy and rising gas prices tied to the Iran war as key reasons for the GOP’s midterm losses.
There were signs of a rebound Friday morning. Nasdaq futures were up about 1.2% before the opening bell, and a stronger-than-expected October jobs report showed the U.S. added 165,000 jobs.
Still, Trump’s decision to blame voters rather than policy is likely to fuel criticism from both sides as Republicans sort through the wreckage of Tuesday’s results.
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