President Donald Trump touted his "Best in History!" stock market growth on Truth Social, just seconds after sharing another user’s post defending his record with Black Americans.
The graphic, headlined "U.S. STOCKS SURGE UNDER TRUMP", shows the S&P 500 at 5,881 in December 2024 under a blue "BIDEN" bar and 7,651 in September 2026 under a red "TRUMP" bar. It calls the gap a "30% increase."
In late 2024, Trump shared coverage tying the market's rise to his win. On Nov. 7 he posted a Wall Street Journal front page saying his "election victory powered the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its biggest gain in two years." On Nov. 25 he posted the Reuters headline "Wall St closes higher; small-caps hit record high after Trump nominates Bessent." Trump had named Scott Bessent as his Treasury pick three days earlier.
Seconds earlier, Trump reposted three images from the user A Gene Robinson (@ALBuffalo2nite) defending Trump's record with Black Americans. The images cite the First Step Act, funding for historically Black colleges and universities, and pre-pandemic lows in Black unemployment. One screenshot reads: "BLACK AMERICANS ARE NOT PROPERTY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY!"
Trump added no caption to the post about Black voters.
The back-to-back posts reflect some of the challenges the president’s party faces in the upcoming midterms.
The stock market post followed a losing week for stocks. The S&P 500 fell 1.09% Friday to 7,659.44, slightly above the chart's September figure, and lost about 2% for the week. The Nasdaq fell 2.14% and had its worst week since June. Chip stocks led the decline.
And although Trump drew a larger share of Black voters than any Republican in decades in 2024, recent polling suggests that his support among Black voters has eroded since then. A recent Pew poll found seven-in-ten Black voters support Democratic candidates, while 7% back Republicans.
The social post appealing to Black voters begins by acknowledging the broad disapproval for Trump among Black voters: “You can dislike Donald Trump. You can despise his personality, reject his politics, and criticize every word that comes out of his mouth.”
Black unemployment was 7.0% in September according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a one-point increase from August. That was the largest one-month increase since April 2020.