Monday: the Dow is down 980 points.
Tuesday: the Dow is down 962 points,
Wednesday: a brief rally fizzles; the Dow is down 125 points
This gets Donald’s attention, because Dow up: Donald gets re-elected; Dow down: bad news for Donald.* So, something must be done.
So he takes the extraordinary step of holding a real-live, honest to god press conference – not a chopper talk, but where he actually takes questions from reporters. And he decides to open with reassuring words that will calm everyone down and soothe the markets and make everything happy again.
The Dow responds, Thursday: Down 1195 points, the biggest point drop in history.
I hope he takes it personally.
*in his idiotically simplistic view of politico-economic theory.
If the stock market continues to tank, I do think that would be politically harmful to him since he himself promotes its delirious highs as proof that he is the most awesome president that ever served.
Probably though it will start going back up again soon since he always gets his way. Or else he will make some calls or maybe even an executive order requiring US-based investors to stop selling and start buying stock.
Fox News is going to have a tough time keeping their viewers from learning this:
You know that “unknown origin” California case of the disease that is so worrying? Well, the origin may not be so unknown, after all.
It’s not just that Trump has famously cut funding for preparation and prevention, for the CDC and other agencies…
It’s not just that Trump has attempted to muzzle all science and medical personnel, who may not release ANY information unless Mike Pence okays it…*
It’s not just that Trump has put non-scientists Pence AND Larry Kudlow AND Steve Mnuchin in charge—loyalists who will work to cover-up information Trump wants covered up…**
It’s not just that the Trump administration is under-reporting cases because we don’t know how many cases there are due to inadequate testing kits…
It’s that TRUMP ADMINISTRATION POLICIES HAVE, through ineptitude and stupidity, LET THE VIRUS LOOSE INTO THE GENERAL US POPULATION.
Fox viewers will hear that it is a deep state conspiracy, or that it’s “just the common cold”, or that the Democrats did it, or that Hillary spawned the virus in a secret lab under Comet Ping Pong Pizza.
They will be fed complete horseshit, and absolute lies, and they will lap it all up.
HHS Secretary Azar yesterday said that the private sector needs to invest in development of a coronavirus vaccine, and therefore there is no promise that everybody will be able to afford a vaccine. Today, he himself, guarantees public access to a vaccine.
I’ve said it repeatedly: the only way Trump loses is if the people feel pain.
They might give Trump a pass, knowing initially that some of the economic pain is an act of God. But it’s how Trump responds to it that could determine what happens not just in the next 3 months but the next 3 years.
I’ve known Trump - like all presidents - would face a test. The challenge, whether it’s economic turmoil, terrorism, a natural disaster, or something else, isn’t going to undo Trump, but these are the kinds of scenarios that could expose Trump’s incompetence in ways that even the average moron could see.
This is already an economic problem even before it’s a public health problem. We know that Trump’s had a tendency to push hard on Jay Powell and the Fed, which could be disastrous if he politicizes the central bank to the point that it starts acting on the president’s tweets more than it does on sound analysis.
Putting Mike Pence as the point man on the crisis already tells us that the response to the outbreak is going to be politicized. Azar will say and do as he’s told, which will be within the parameters of what is deemed to be in the best political interests of the president.
Fortunately, there are hundreds of state and local departments of health, hospitals that aren’t afraid to communicate with the public, and a free press that will ignore whatever Trump and refuse to cover up the epidemic. And if the outbreak is bad enough, trying to use CDC as a spin machine would backfire bigly. Unfortunately, it would also destroy the credibility of a valuable public health institution, and that’s something we don’t get back right away.
Just a blip, though. The crash of '08 showed a c. 20% drop over September. This is less than 10% since Friday (though also a 52wk low). Maybe it will recover. Or maybe he will explain to us that the economy is just fine and the DJIA does not really have any significant meaning (in grunts of far fewer syllables, of course).
Easier - Trump supporters think he is God. They will hear whatever they want, and dismiss whatever they want.
Trump supporters want to live their lives just like Trump does. Their idea of a God is to live as a bombastic lying asshole that gets away with everything. That’s how you get ‘rich’. The American dream.
