President Donald Trump has blamed the Democrats’ midterm election victories for a $3 trillion wipeout in the US stock market — and told conservatives at a CPAC gathering in Florida that he will meet the new Democratic Congress with a veto pen.
Key Points
- Trump $3 trillion market loss — Trump said the country “lost $3 trillion all because of an election” after Democrats won both chambers of Congress.
- The S&P 500 lost about $3 trillion in value on Thursday, with the Nasdaq 100 suffering its worst day since 2020.
- At CPAC on Friday night, Trump vowed to “veto, veto, veto” Democratic legislation.
- He also defended his strikes on Iran, saying preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains the top priority.
Trump made the claim twice on Friday, first at an aerospace event at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and then to reporters in West Palm Beach. “You know our country lost $3 trillion all because of an election,” he said at the UP.Summit gathering. “By the way, I was not on the ballot. Just in case you had any question, because if we were on the ballot, we would have won.”
Speaking to reporters later, he put it more bluntly: “We lost about $3 trillion when they found out that the Democrats did well in the election, rather surprisingly, but that’s the way life goes. It had to do with the fact that we won’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon, so you always have to go with that first.”
What the markets actually did
The scale of Thursday’s sell-off is not in dispute, even if its cause is. According to Bloomberg, roughly $3 trillion was wiped off the value of the S&P 500 in a single session. The Nasdaq 100 fell 6.4%, its worst day since March 2020, while the S&P 500 lost 4.4%, its steepest drop since April 2025. Nvidia alone shed about $450 billion in market value.
Market watchers have linked the rout mainly to investor fears that a Democratic-controlled Congress will tighten regulation of the artificial intelligence industry, with several winning candidates having campaigned on pausing new data-centre construction. The sell-off followed an initial rally on Wednesday, when the Dow jumped 3% as oil prices fell on hopes that the election result lowers the odds of renewed fighting with Iran.
A veto strategy for a Democratic Congress
At the CPAC gathering at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday night, Trump set out how he plans to handle the next two years. He told conservative activists he would use his presidential veto power to block legislation from the Democratic-controlled Congress, repeating the word three times: “veto, veto, veto.”
The message was aimed at a party still reeling from Tuesday’s results, in which Democrats swept the House and Senate and won key state races. Trump also used the Florida trip to try to turn the page, touting a plan for a new American air show, CapeWeek, which is due to debut in 2028 at the Kennedy Space Center in a public-private partnership involving NASA, the state of Florida and Space Florida.
What happens next
The lame-duck Republican-led Congress returns next week, with government funding due to expire on 11 December and the defence authorisation bill unfinished. The new Democratic Congress is sworn in on 3 January 2027, and its leaders have promised early votes on healthcare, the Iran war and tariffs. Trump retains his veto, and the Senate’s 60-vote threshold remains a formidable obstacle to most legislation, so the veto strategy he outlined at CPAC is likely to be tested repeatedly.
For background on the shake-up in Washington, see our report on Democrats sweeping the midterms to win the House and Senate, and on Trump naming Stephen Miller his new chief of staff. More in our US News section.
Sources: The Straits Times (Bloomberg), “Trump touts plan for US air show, seeks to turn page on midterms“; Newsmax, “Trump Vows to ‘Veto, Veto, Veto’ Democrats at CPAC“.