Trump blames inventory market dip on Democrats at coronavirus information convention

President Donald Trump tried to pin this week’s inventory market slide within the face of a possible coronavirus outbreak on Democrats. However the case he made to try this was nonsensical — even by his requirements.

Throughout a information convention on Wednesday that was meant to quell fears, Trump defined away the Dow Jones Industrial Common’s practically 2,000-point dip on Monday and Tuesday not initially by acknowledging actuality — which is that traders are spooked by fears we’re amid the early phases of a world pandemic — however by insisting that they’re spooked by the prospect of Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden changing into the subsequent president.

“I feel the monetary markets are very upset after they have a look at the Democrat candidates standing on that stage, making fools out of themselves, and so they say, ‘If we ever have a president like this,’” Trump stated, referring to the newest Democratic presidential debate held in South Carolina. “After they have a look at the statements made by the folks standing behind these podiums, I feel that has an enormous impact.”

However there’s an issue: The Democratic debate in query happened on Tuesday night time, after American markets closed for the day. By then, the Dow had already endured two days of serious losses — 1,032 factors on Monday and one other 879 factors on Tuesday. So Trump’s clarification for the market slide rests on a basic misunderstanding of how time works.

If his declare about markets being spooked by the Democratic debate held water, you’d’ve anticipated the Dow to plummet once more on Wednesday. However it didn’t. It dropped simply 122 factors. There’s simply no proof that Democrats are at fault.

Trump desires to flee accountability

Trump’s clarification for the market slide might have been absurd, however the level was to reassure the American public that the broader coronavirus scenario is below management and that there’s no purpose for panic within the markets or elsewhere.

However as Trump spoke on Wednesday, the Washington Post broke news of the primary coronavirus case in the US that doesn’t appear to be linked to journey to affected areas of the world or with identified contact with somebody already contaminated with Covid-19, the illness coronavirus causes. As my colleague Kelsey Piper wrote, that improvement “suggests the coronavirus might now be spreading within the nation, person-to-person — with this particular person simply the primary to be symptomatic, search medical care, and take a look at optimistic.”

Responding nicely to such a public well being disaster could be a problem for even probably the most competent presidential administration, however as Vox’s Matthew Yglesias wrote, the Trump administration is in a uniquely unhealthy place to answer this one. The worldwide financial system is clearly choosing up on the menace.

So there’s good purpose to consider that the markets might not totally rebound anytime quickly. There’s not much Trump can do about that, nevertheless it’s an issue for him contemplating how a lot political capital he’s staked on the power of the Dow.

The Washington Submit reported that privately, “Trump has grow to be livid in regards to the inventory market’s slide” and “believes excessive warnings from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention have spooked traders.”

Throughout his information convention on Wednesday, Trump praised the work of the CDC, but in addition stated he agrees with conspiracy theories pushed by Rush Limbaugh and others who say the outbreak being weaponized towards him.

“I agree with it,” Trump stated, alluding to Limbaugh’s feedback. “And I’d prefer it to cease.”

Limbaugh, who was granted the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Trump throughout the State of the Union speech earlier this month, has additionally in contrast Covid-19 to the frequent chilly. Whereas there’s lots we don’t but learn about Covid-19, together with its actual morality price, a latest paper from the medical journal JAMA pegged it at 2.3 percent.

Standing subsequent to Trump, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the CDC, made certain to reward the “aggressive containment technique” that Trump additionally touted, but in addition supplied a extra sober evaluation of the general scenario than the president did.

“We do anticipate extra circumstances,” she stated. “The trajectory of what we’re over the weeks and months forward could be very unsure.”

The information strikes quick. To remain up to date, comply with Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and skim extra of Vox’s policy and politics coverage.