Fact Check: Did Trump Slam 'Brokies' Who Are 'Crying About the Stock Market'?
It was a post that, to President Donald Trump’s detractors, sounded too good to be true. But no — even Grok, X’s artificial intelligence platform, deemed it to be factual.
In the process, it showed that AI has a long way to go before it becomes foolproof.
First, as you well know, stocks have been tumbling over the past few days. On Thursday, The New York Times noted, the S&P 500 entered correction territory, with stocks down 10.1 percent since their peak in February.
The benchmark fell 1.4 percent on Thursday amid pessimism regarding Trump’s tariff policies. To a certain extent, this was inevitable, and Trump has maintained he’s building the foundations of a stable economy that provide Americans jobs amid “a little disruption.”
“Look, what I have to do is build a strong country,” he told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo during an interview that aired on Sunday.
“You can’t really watch the stock market. If you look at China, they have a 100-year perspective. We have a quarter. We go by quarters.”
However, according to an alleged post by Trump on his Truth Social account, he was a little less sensitive to those who may have lost money in the market over the past few days.
“A bunch of BROKIES are crying about the stock market today! GROW UP!” the alleged post dated Tuesday read.
“I don’t care about the stock market. Frankly, I don’t even look at it!” the post continued. “I promised you lower prices — and that includes stocks! If you wanted HIGHER prices, you should have voted for Sleepy Joe. CRY ME A RIVER!!”
This got reposted on X — where users, like the one below, said it was proof “Trump is actually insane man.”
Trump is actually insane man pic.twitter.com/vvQJbOdBPX
— 💐Guru 💐 (@CoinGurruu) March 11, 2025
Now, you can see the Community Notes — according to those, Trump didn’t really post this.
However, that’s not what Grok, the AI assistant on X, said.
“The X post from Donald J. Trump is real, posted at 4:08 PM on March 11, 2025,” a post from the Grok account said later on Tuesday.
“It’s classic Trump—caps lock rant about the stock market, blaming ‘brokies’ and ‘Sleepy Joe’ for high prices,” it continued.
“Markets are volatile right now; S&P 500 dropped 2.6% since his January 20th inauguration, despite a 2.5% spike after his November 2024 win. His policies like tariffs and tax cuts are shaking things up.”
The X post from Donald J. Trump is real, posted at 4:08 PM on March 11, 2025. It’s classic Trump—caps lock rant about the stock market, blaming “brokies” and “Sleepy Joe” for high prices. Markets are volatile right now; S&P 500 dropped 2.6% since his January 20th inauguration,…
— Grok (@grok) March 11, 2025
Then, just to be sure, another user asked for the post. Grok dutifully provided it:
Here’s the X post from Donald J. Trump on March 11, 2025, at 4:08 PM: “A BUNCH OF BROKIES ARE CRYING ABOUT THE STOCK MARKET TODAY! GROW UP!! I don’t care about the Market, Frankly, I don’t even look at it! I promised you LOWER PRICES—and that includes stocks! IF you WANTED HIGHER…
— Grok (@grok) March 12, 2025
Well — wouldn’t you know it? — it turns out that even on a platform owned by the chair of the Department of Government Efficiency, artificial intelligence makes mistakes:
I made an error earlier. The X post attributed to Donald J. Trump isn’t verifiable on his official account or elsewhere as of now. My bad—should’ve double-checked the source. Markets are indeed shaky, with the S&P 500 down 2.6% since Trump’s January 20th inauguration, but this…
— Grok (@grok) March 11, 2025
“I made an error earlier. The X post attributed to Donald J. Trump isn’t verifiable on his official account or elsewhere as of now,” the Grok account said.
“My bad—should’ve double-checked the source. Markets are indeed shaky, with the S&P 500 down 2.6% since Trump’s January 20th inauguration, but this specific post doesn’t hold up. Thanks for calling it out!”
This, as you may not be surprised to learn, is nothing like Trump’s Truth Social account over the past few days, in which he’s been emphasizing good employment numbers, easing inflation, reshoring of jobs thanks to his trade policies, and positive engagement with Wall Street.
As for the stock market correction, it’s understandable that people are put off by the “little disruption” in their portfolios — and that Trump’s enemies are willing to take full advantage of that.
However, absent any real policy differences to point to from the left in terms of economic prosperity aside from the status quo from the former administration, apparently the strategy in certain corners of social media is fake news about Truth Social “BROKIES” rants. That’s par for the course, unfortunately — although it’s verifiably untrue.
Grok getting it wrong is another matter, however — and a sign that AI fact-checking is not necessarily your friend in situations like this.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
