President Donald Trump may decide not to run for re-election, according to DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach.
Gundlach suggested that Trump may forgo a second term in an interview with Fox Business’s Neil Cavuto on Wednesday; Gundlach also linked the president’s potential electoral success to the health of the U.S. economy.
Though Gundlach is primarily known for his skill as a bond manager, he garnered fame as a clairvoyant political observer when he predicted President Trump would win the 2016 presidential election nearly one year before the election was held.
“I am not even sure he’s going to really run,” said Gundlach. “If the economy goes into recession and he can’t pull out by removing the tariffs, there’s very little for him to run on.”
In a May meeting with advisors, Gundlach reportedly predicted that there’s a 40 to 50 percent chance that the U.S. economy goes into a recession in the next year. More recently he increased those odds, telling clients last week there was a 65 percent chance of recession in the next 12 months.
Gundlach drew a comparison between Trump and Lyndon Johnson, who decided not to run in 1968 as a prolonged conflict in Vietnam and a growing anti-war movement at home weighed on his prospects.
Though Trump launched his 2020 campaign on Tuesday with a rally in Orlando, Fla., Gundlach reminded Cavuto that “things can change.”