Donald Trump taking credit for stock market gains is hardly “news”, but the thing about Trump is that he habitually finds ways to say the same thing in still more ridiculous terms than he’s said it previously.
While the president’s bragging about the US economy and the Dow were hardly the most notable development to come out of his trip to South Korea (which, incidentally, turned into a trip to North Korea), his latest stock market boast is worth taking note of if for no other reason than to illustrate the lengths he’ll go to in the course of perpetuating a manifestly false narrative.
At a press conference with Moon Jae-in, Trump explained how everyone should think about the stock market. Here is the clip:
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There you have it. “There was a tremendous surge after I won. Because of the fact I won”, Trump said. He then pointed to his head and said “Because people want that thinking instead of the thinking that we had”, an attempt to suggest that somehow, the stock market did not appreciate the “thinking” of Barack Obama.
You’ll also note that Trump proceeded to suggest, in the most bombastic terms imaginable, that “his” stock market is better than Obama’s stock market. He’s made similar claims about the economy.
Here is a chart which shows the yearly change in the S&P 500 in the top pane, and the monthly change in nonfarm payrolls, along with the unemployment rate, in the bottom pane:
While it is entirely reasonable for Trump to suggest that his tax cuts and the promise of fiscal stimulus have led to more market-friendly outcomes than what might have materialized under a Clinton presidency (and even that is conjecture) the comparison to the Obama years is unflattering for Trump at best, and undermines his argument at worst.
There were more jobs created, on average, during the latter months of the Obama presidency than under Trump and, as is obvious to anyone who cares to consult a chart, Trump’s stock “miracle” isn’t a miracle at all. Stocks are up, yes. And they are up a lot since the election. But 2018 was the worst year since the crisis and the total gains since November 2016 are by no means mind-boggling.
Why point this out again? Simple: Because while anyone who follows markets knows Trump’s balderdash about the economy and stocks is disingenuous, there are millions of Americans who will vote in 2020 who take comments like those he delivered in South Korea at face value even though they are, ultimately, bald-faced lies.
As Jeff Gundlach put it last month when referring to Trump’s claims about the jobs market, “It’s unbelievable the sort of twilight zone that we’re living in where, you know, people just say things and it gets repeated”.
It really boils down to the fact that Empires diminish slowly and from within..After twenty years of Government that did not benefit the people …out of desperation the public will settle for anything as long as it not the same as what they have been served in a recent past…He is it…incomparable lol…..