Thirty years ago this week, the stock market took a massive nosedive, a crash that came to be known as Black Monday. Many investors were destroyed by this one day's collapse, but, as we noted earlier, some survived (and even fewer thrived).

A few investors said they predicted the crash, including one familiar name: Donald Trump.

While now-President Trump is crowing about the surging stock market almost every day (for instance today)...

The U.S. has gained more than 5.2 trillion dollars in Stock Market Value since Election Day! Also, record business enthusiasm. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2017

The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that the real estate executive said he sold all his stocks before the market tanked. He wasn’t too optimistic about a rebound in stock prices.

Why?

“There are just too many things wrong with the country,” he said.

It would take 15 months for the Dow to return to its Oct. 16 level.

They told you so! Some investors predicted the end of the bull market before the past week's collapse, or sold off big positions within the past few months. They include real-estate tycoon Donald Trump, corporate raider Asher Edelman, and private investor Jim Rogers. In interviews yesterday, few of these investors were forecasting a quick turn-around. "I sold all my stock over the last month," said Mr. Trump. "The timing was no different than the Grand Hyatt - what do you think of it?" The Grand Hyatt was a successful hotel project Mr. Trump undertook in Manhattan in the late 1970s at the tail end of New York City's fiscal crisis. One market source says Mr. Trump made about $175 million during the stock market's move up, partly by playing such takeover targets as Allegis Corp. and Holiday Corp., but has sold most of his $500 million portfolio. "I think the market is going to go down further." he said, because "there are just too many things wrong with the country." Referring to the current U.S. trade deficit, Mr. Trump explained, "The U.S. cannot afford to lose $200 billion a year while Japan and Saudi Arabia are making tremendous profits and the U.S. is paying totally for their defense." Mr. Trump said it's more difficult for the U.S. to close the trade deficit because it doesn't have free trade with Japan.

Full WSJ story below...

That was 30 years ago - Trump's concerns about trade deficits and "things wrong with the country" ring a very familiar bell.