Just months after he declared America “open for business” and pledged to do anything in his power to help President Donald Trump, Ken Griffin is slamming his policies.
“Right now, the biggest challenge for any investor is to try to understand how to navigate this moment of policy uncertainty,” Griffin said Thursday at the Forbes Iconoclast Summit in New York.
“I was with a group of 150 American executives over the last few days, and about 30% to 40% of that group said the last few months have been the most challenging period they have faced in their entire careers,” he continued.
“More than the financial crisis?” interjected Forbes editor-at-large Maneet Ahuja.
Griffin also had harsh words for Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill that recently passed the House of Representatives. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill, which cuts taxes and the social safety net, would add $2.4 trillion to the U.S. national debt.
“The United States’ fiscal house is not right. You cannot run deficits of 6% or 7% at full employment after years of growth. That’s just fiscally irresponsible,” Griffin said.
“No question, the bill will add several trillion dollars” to the debt, he added.
It’s a stark reversal for the GOP megadonor, who has long contributed to Republican candidates. Griffin had hesitated to support Trump prior to the most recent election cycle, but in December said he had voted for the president, and declared to The New York Times, “I will do whatever I can do to help support the president-elect.”
On Thursday, he walked back his praise.
“I’m going to own it,” he said. “I really thought we were looking at four years of just tremendous growth and tremendous American economic vitality.“
But there’s still time for a change, he added. “There’s still hope that the administration pivots and goes back to the pro-growth, low-tax, deregulation of America’s business mindset,” he said. “We’re still hoping that happens.”
