Trump marks 100 days in office with Biden blame game

As President Trump spent the week marking the 100th day of his new term, he regularly invoked his predecessor, blaming former President Biden for a wide range of economic issues and mocked him during a blitz of public appearances. 

Trump declared it was “Biden’s Stock Market” to account for the turbulence during his first three months in office and the gross domestic product (GDP) decline in the first quarter. During a speech in Michigan, an interview with ABC News and remarks at the White House, he lobbed reminders of the Biden era even as he touted his own accomplishments.

Critics of Trump's blame-Biden approach say the attacks on his old foe are losing effectiveness as the rest of the country moves on from the 2024 election and the previous administration.

“Anything bad is always someone else’s fault,” a former Trump campaign official said. “Biden can’t defend himself—always pick on the weaker kid.”

Trump's frequent Biden barbs come as the president faces rising backlash from voters, business leaders and even Republican lawmakers over his economic agenda.

The president spent the week fending off questions about the growing number of red flags in economic data, approval polls and financial markets as his escalating trade battles.

Trump’s first 100 days in office were the worst for the stock market at the beginning of a presidential term since former President Nixon’s second term in the 1970s, CNBC reported.

The pressure on Trump escalated Wednesday after the release of a disappointing economic growth report, which showed a surge of imports driven by new tariffs throwing gross domestic product into reverse.

Trump urged investors Wednesday to be patient in his handling of the economy, claiming the stock market was still being driven by Biden-era policies. As the stock market soared under Biden, Trump claimed at the time that he deserved credit because his strong polling against in the 2024 race caused markets to rise.

“I didn’t take over until January 20th,” the president said on Wednesday. “Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”

CNBC reporter Steve Liesman mocked Trump for trying to blame the stock market on Biden, saying, “I think there was a lot of laughter around Wall Street, I think, on that one. I think that people pretty squarely put this on the shoulders of President Trump.”

The stock market also began to rebound on hopes of a thaw in trade talks and better-than-expected inflation data, complicating Trump's efforts to saddle Biden with Wall Street turmoil.

The S&P 500 index closed Friday with its ninth consecutive day of gains, making up its entire losses since Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff announcement.

Throughout the week, Biden was on Trump’s mind.

Within minutes of his rally in Michigan to mark 100 days, Trump criticized Biden’s presidency, asking the crowd, “How the hell did that guy ever become president, can somebody explain? How the hell did that happen?”

The president then mentioned Biden 14 times in this interview with ABC’s Terry Moran.

“We have a country that's very sick. Joe Biden — and it's not him, because I don't even think he knew what the hell was happening. But the people around him are vicious people,” Trump said, while talking about the number of migrants in the U.S.

He also mocked him among supporters at the White House.

“Sit down, please. I didn’t even know you were standing. What an honor that you stood so long. Wow, that’s a great honor. Cause I know if Biden was up here, you would have been seated, you may have never stood up,” Trump said at the National Day of Prayer event on Thursday.

Republican strategists say that while Trump’s loyal base won't get sick of the Biden talk, others who supported him in the 2024 election will want to see him move on.

“It still works for him with the base and always will — he still talks about Hillary [Clinton], after all,” said Republican strategist Doug Heye.

“But outside of his base, especially those who voted for Biden in ‘20 but then for Trump last year, 100 days in May be the point of diminishing returns.”

As Trump rips Biden and the high inflation in the first years of his administration to draw a contrast, Americans are expecting him to deal with his own set of economic challenges, argued Jordan Wood, a former Trump administration communications aide.

“Framing the economy as a Biden-era problem helps Republicans redirect the conversation to the pre-COVID years — when many people felt things were more stable and affordable. But these seismic protectionist shifts and rising tensions around the globe, worker shortages, and rapid advances in AI are changing the fundamentals,” said Wood, a vice president at Monument Advocacy.

He added, “Millions of Americans have been clear they are open to Trump’s case, but it needs to include a clear plan for navigating the road ahead.”

Even Trump aides repeatedly brought up Trump this week.

In a briefing with reporters on Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt and top policy adviser Stephen Miller mentioned Biden and his administration 17 times, accusing the Biden administration of “importing” immigrants into the U.S. and sinking “this planet into bloodshed and war in the Middle East, in Europe and rising tensions in Europe.”

“So, if you're an American worker, you lived through four years of a Biden depression. That was the economic reality,” Miller said.

Biden struggled with record-high inflation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a stagnant housing market and increasing interest rates, but began to rebound in the final months of him holding office. He also presided over the strongest job market in modern U.S. history in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Andrew Bates, former spokesperson in the Biden White House, argued the 46th president handed Trump an economy that was “out-matching all our rivals” when he left office in late January.

“In 100 days, Trump sent that economy into an unprecedented tailspin with tariffs that are the biggest middle class tax increase in modern history— tariffs Joe Biden publicly warned against,” Bates said. “It makes sense that the name of a president with a better economic record is on Trump’s mind, but I’m surprised he wants Americans thinking about how much better off they were before the Trump Crime Family was in charge.”