Robert Kiyosaki: Trump Is a ‘Genius With Money’ While Biden and Harris Have Ruined the Economy
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Vance Cariaga
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Cory Dudak
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There’s nothing like an election year to crank up the angry rhetoric, and financial author Robert Kiyosaki jumped into the fray during a recent interview with Fox Business. Although the interview focused mostly on bitcoin, Kiyosaki took time out to call ex-President Donald Trump a “genius” with money and President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “idiots” with money.
The interview aired on July 26, ahead of a bitcoin conference in Nashville, where Trump was scheduled to speak. It also came before this week’s stock market selloff that followed a disappointing July jobs report, sparking fears of a coming recession.
Speaking to Fox Business host Neil Cavuto, Kiyosaki addressed Trump’s appearance at the event.
“The reason I am happy that Donald’s speaking at the bitcoin conference is because as you know, he’s a genius with money, and Biden and Kamala are idiots with money,” he said, using the same mispronunciation of Harris’ first name that Trump often uses. “Nobody has done more damage to the economy than Biden and Kamala.”
Kiyosaki didn’t provide any context or examples of why he felt that way, and Cavuto didn’t ask for any. Cavuto did mention how Trump helped “run up” the national debt as president and questioned Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 economy. Cavuto also mentioned Trump’s strong support of high tariffs on imported goods, which some economists warn could lead to continued high prices.
Kiyosaki immediately shifted the talk back to bitcoin — which he has a large financial stake in and which he heavily promotes.
“The real problem is the national debt, that they can’t solve it,” Kiyosaki told Cavuto, noting that some people say to buy silver or gold — protective assets. “I say buy bitcoin,” Kiyosaki said.
What Kiyosaki didn’t mention is how the U.S. economy fared under Trump and Biden — perhaps because his claim that Biden and Harris ruined the economy is questionable at best.
According to a recent analysis from Forbes, the nation’s real gross domestic product (which accounts for inflation) grew at an annualized rate of 2.7% during Trump’s first three years vs. 3.5% during Biden’s. For Trump’s full term, the annualized growth rate was only 1.4%, weighed down by the COVID impact. Growth under Biden has far outpaced that so far.
Stock markets performed better under Trump and inflation was lower, according to Forbes. But job growth has been better under Biden.
Part of Kiyosaki’s support for Trump — or maybe most of it — could be connected to Trump’s recent embrace of cryptocurrency. That embrace has not always worked to crypto’s benefit, however.
As Newsweek reported on Monday, bitcoin prices plummeted after Trump suggested the crypto could be used to pay off the country’s $35 trillion national debt. That continued a recent slide in the crypto market amid an uncertain global economic environment.
In a separate interview with Fox Business last week, Trump had this to say: “Who knows? Maybe we’ll pay off our $35 trillion, hand them a little crypto check, right? We’ll hand them a little bitcoin and wipe out our $35 trillion.”
While Trump and Kiyosaki share similar philosophies about cryptocurrency (at least publicly) and have both amassed wealth, they have also had similar financial missteps.
Even though Kiyosaki praised Trump’s “genius” with money, businesses under the Trump banner have declared bankruptcy three times since 1991. The most recent was in 2009, when Trump Entertainment Resorts missed a $53 million interest payment on its debt during the financial crisis fallout.
Three years after that, in 2012, Kiyosaki’s own Rich Global LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in a Wyoming bankruptcy court. As ABC News reported at the time, citing news reports from Forbes and the New York Post, the company had been “weighed down” by a lawsuit filed by Learning Annex, which ABC News described as an earlier backer of Kiyosaki that helped arrange his public speaking events.
Learning Annex founder and President Bill Zanker sued Kiyosaki after he allegedly failed to pay an agreed-upon percentage of profits from his speaking engagements, ABC News reported. A district judge in New York awarded Learning Annex $23.7 million. At the time, the company had $26 million in liabilities and just $1.8 million in assets.
Editor’s note on election coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com.
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