Biden campaign pounces on Trump’s prediction of an economic crash

Washington CNN —

The Biden campaign is taking aim at former President Donald Trump over the economy, blasting his recent prediction that the economy will crash – and his hope it would happen before he would take office, should he win a second term.

Biden’s campaign aides see the GOP frontrunner’s comments as an opening to push their economic arguments amid their own struggles with voters frustrated with the president’s handling of the economy. Plans are underway to lean into Trump’s comments, including a paid media campaign for Wednesday around CNN’s Republican Presidential Primary Debate and Fox News’ townhall with Trump, a source familiar with the discussions said.

“Donald Trump should just say he doesn’t give a damn about people, because that’s exactly what he’s telling the American people when he says he hopes the economy crashes,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement first provided to CNN. “In his relentless pursuit of power and retribution, Donald Trump is rooting for a reality where millions of Americans lose their jobs and live with the crushing anxiety of figuring out how to afford basic needs.”

Trump made the prediction in an interview Monday as he looks to sharpen his own economic arguments – including against Biden – heading into the Republican primary contests, which kick off with the Iowa caucuses on Monday.

“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,” Trump said in an interview that aired Monday on the right-wing platform Lindell TV.

The stock market crashed during President Herbert Hoover’s first year in office in 1929, setting the