Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted former President Trump for saying he hopes the economy crashes within the next 12 months, comments that have sparked widespread criticism from Democrats.
“He calls himself the messiah,” Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Monday night. “I guess he doesn’t know much about the messiah.”
The Democratic lawmaker continued: “He says he wants the economy to crash. I guess he doesn’t know what that means to America’s working families.”
Earlier Monday, Trump took aim at the current economy under President Biden and predicted it would crash. Trump, the GOP front-runner for the presidential nomination who is itching for an electoral rematch with Biden in November, said he hoped the crash would take place within the next 12 months — before Biden’s first term in office is up and before the next presidential term.
Trump said he would not want to be elected and then serve a term similar to former President Hoover, who assumed office in 1929 when the economy seemed stable, just months before the start of the Great Depression.
“We have an economy that’s so fragile, and the only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did,” Trump told interviewer Lou Dobbs. “It’s just running off the fumes.”
Trump added: “And when there’s a crash — I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president I just don’t want to be, Herbert Hoover.”
Pelosi called Trump’s comments “just another manifestation of the insensitivity and the grotesqueness of this person,” arguing they showed the Republican presidential candidate only cares about his political prospects, rather than what’s good for the American public.
“He doesn’t care what that means to the kitchen table interests of America’s working families. Maybe some of his rich friends who pour money into his campaign — because they don’t want to have to pay taxes — might take notice of his ineptitude, not understanding that the economy,” she said.
Despite Trump’s remarks, economists largely say the economic outlook looks promising, in light of the apparent success of the “soft landing” after record-high inflation. White House and Biden campaign aides hit back at Trump’s comments on Monday, calling them “vile” and saying they were “revealing twisted true colors.”
Pelosi, who has long battled Trump over myriad issues, also knocked him for taking credit for the positive aspects of the current economy.
“That was a stupid statement he made,” she said on MSNBC. “He also made an untrue statement. We’re not living off his fumes.”
“Joe Biden has done a remarkable job as president of the United States. Just around 14 million jobs, maybe more, by now with the latest report. Lowest unemployment. Cut it in half. The path of inflation going down,” she continued.
“[Biden] has been remarkable. And he has done it in a way that has justice — social, economic, environmental — justice in every way,” Pelosi added. “That’s not anything this person would understand.”