‘Chilling’: Trump White House blames Biden amid recession alarms and market nosedive

It’s Monday, March 10, and Donald Trump has been president for 50 days. The stock market continues its steep decline, with the Dow losing nearly 2,500 points over the past month. Today, it closed down nearly 900 points—after losing over 1100—reportedly due in large part to the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs, their chaotic implementation, and concerns over the possible recession they may bring. Meanwhile, a government shutdown looms. If Congress fails to reach a budget deal by midnight Friday—and President Trump has barely addressed the issue in public—the federal government will shut down at 12:01 AM on Saturday. While Congressional Republicans will likely need some Democratic votes, and it’s unclear how many, if any, they can count on, some political commentators are warning that Speaker Johnson is “devising a trap for congressional Democrats.”

You would not know any of this if you just walked through President Trump’s Truth Social page, where he spent an hour on Monday afternoon posting links to right-wing and far-right websites praising the “Trump effect,” claiming Trump is “rebuilding domestic manufacturing” (something President Joe Biden actually did,) bragging about the historically low number of migrants ICE apprehended at the Southwest border (he said he would deport millions), claiming his tariffs will not cause inflation (despite economists’ warnings), quoting his border “czar” saying he will “bring hell” to sanctuary cities, boasting that European nations are boosting their militaries (because they see the U.S. as aligning with Russia and hence unreliable), and posting a screenshot claiming he has the highest approval rating since being inaugurated (despite reliable polls saying the opposite).

Headlines make clear, however: investors and consumers alike are worried about a Trump recession.

“Stock Rout Picks Up Steam With Recession Warnings Blaring” (Bloomberg)
“Dow falls 1,100 points in market rout after Trump says he won’t rule out a recession” (CNN)
“White House pushes back against recession talk as household worries grow” (Reuters)
“Stocks slump yet again as fears grow about tariffs — and a recession” (NPR)

Just days ago, the headline at Foreign Policy was, “Trump’s Economy Is Flashing Red”:

“Trade wars, rising prices, falling confidence, and sinking stock markets are not what Wall Street or Main Street voted for.”

The Guardian on Monday reported on the Trump economic crisis.

“Wall Street falls as tariff fears grip markets,” The Guardian’s headline reveals.

“Boom! The US stock market has opened sharply lower, as fears that a trade war could spark an American recession sweep Wall Street,” it explains. After detailing how markets opened lower and continued to fall in early trading, it notes, “This follows last week’s selloff, in which the S&P 500 fell by over 3%, its worst run since early September.”

And it warns about the impact on Americans.

“Stocks are sliding today after China today imposed reciprical tariffs on US imports, targeting agricultural products, in response to the 10% tariff imposed by the US on Chinese imports. Beijing’s tariffs will make American goods, such as soyabeans, pork, beef, chicken and cotton more expensive for Chinese consumers, and may lead importers to buy goods from elsewhere instead, hitting sales for US farmers.”

Most importantly, here’s how the UK-based paper explained the cause: “Hopes that Donald Trump’s more erratic actions could be reined in by the markets appear to be being eroded, after the US president failed to rule out a recession in his weekend interview with Fox. Instead, Trump spoke about how there would be ‘a period of transition,’ implying the White House was relaxed about economic damage, expecting it to be short-term.”

‘Chilling’ and ‘Kind of Mystifying’

Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, a seven-term Republican of Pennsylvania, told MSNBC Monday afternoon that Trump’s actions are having a “chilling” effect on the economy, and said it is “kind of mystifying” that the President “is behaving so recklessly with respect to the stewardship of this economy.”

Accusing Trump of trying to “undermine” North American economic systems, Dent said Trump’s tariffs “will likely cause recessions in Canada and Mexico, and create higher prices here and disrupt manufacturing and agriculture, so that’s going to be very negative for us.”

“He’s also, at the same time, is bad mouthing Europe every day, a major trading partner with us,” Dent added, observing that amidst all of this, Trump is “talking about greater rapprochement with Russia, which has an economy smaller than some of our states.”

Dent described Trump as “rather destructive and reckless,” noting he “does not understand” the consequences his tariffs will have on American manufacturers and farmers.

Despite Trump’s cycle of tariff threats, implementations, walk-backs, and renewed tariffs—along with his mass firing of potentially hundreds of thousands of government employees in an effort to shrink the federal workforce—his National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, is pinning all the blame for the bad economic news on President Joe Biden.

Former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, Jason Furman, apparently responding to President Trump’s remarks over the weekend, during which he said the U.S. could expect a period of “transition” as his economic policies take effect.

“If you are implementing a credible plan that entails short-term pain for long-term gain the stock market will go up not down,” Furman, a professor of economics, wrote Monday afternoon.

‘We’ve Got a Biden Economy’ White House Advisor Says

Hassett served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the first Trump administration. He is known for his faulty prediction about the DOW reaching 36,000 in 2004 — it did not until 2024, under President Joe Biden. He is also known for his false prediction that by May 0f 2020 COVID deaths would drop to nearly zero. At least 1.2 million people in the U.S. to date have died from COVID.

Hassett blamed President Biden for Trump’s bad economic results, while calling massive disruptions, like Monday's drop in the markets, as “some blips in the data.”

Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov, co-host of “The Five,” responded: “Strange that Biden never had these crappy numbers when it was actually his economy.”

Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen mocked Hassett: “Oh, right, this is still the Biden economy, except for how the Biden economy had a record high market and now we’re in a market crash. Got it.”

Watch the video below or at this link.