by
SAUL
LOEB
/
AFP)
(Photo
by
SAUL
LOEB/AFP
via
Getty
Images)
The
last
week
has
been
brutal
for
the
stock
market.
Measured
by
loss
of
shareholder
value,
last
Thursday
and
Friday
represented
the
worst
two-day
stock
market
wipeout
in
history.
Using
a
few
different,
and
slightly
more
generous,
measuring
sticks,
the
recent
market
meltdown
could
be
thought
of
as
in
the
same
neighborhood
as
the
bursting
of
the
dot-com
bubble,
the
2008
financial
crisis,
or
the
2020
COVID
crash.
Yet,
unlike
so
many
market
shocks
before
it,
Donald
Trump’s
“Annihilation
Days”
seemed
almost
entirely
attributable
to
the
whims
of
one
man
who
routinely
expresses
incorrect
views
about
how
the
economy
works.
Trump
probably
would
not
have
slapped
a
bunch
of
tariffs
on
our
trading
partners
(and
a
few
uninhabited
islands)
if
he
did
not
genuinely
believe
that
would
somehow
end
up
being
good
for
the
economy
(or
at
least
good
for
him).
Plenty
of
resources
out
there
explain
why
tariffs
are
not
going
to
bring
back
U.S.
manufacturing
jobs
and
will,
if
they
stay
in
place,
likely
be
a
long-term
economic
disaster.
Rather
than
explaining
the
economics
of
tariffs
once
again
here,
let’s
instead
look
at
the
right-wing
disinformation
springing
up
—
even
in
some
quasi-legitimate
news
sources
—
claiming
that
driving
the
stock
market
into
the
dirt
was
part
of
Trump’s
grand
plan
all
along.
This
was
not
something
that
Trump
planned
all
along.
How
do
I
know
that?
Well,
for
one
thing,
Trump
ran
on
the
assertion
that
he
would
be
far
better
for
the
stock
market
than
his
opponent.
“If
we
lost
this
election,
I
think
the
market
would
go
down
the
tubes,”
said
Trump
late
in
October.
Perhaps
he
said
“lost”
when
he
meant
“won”?
That
was
far
from
the
only
time
Trump
anticipated
that
the
stock
market
would
boom
under
him,
and
decried
the
actually
booming
stock
market
under
Biden
as
solely
a
result
of
a
probable
Trump
election
win.
Before
Trump
was
reelected
and
started
implementing
his
disastrous
economic
policies,
he
did
this
at
least
dozens
of
times.
Trump
has
completely
flipped
his
position
now.
While
he
was
crashing
the
stock
market
late
last
week,
Trump
shared
a
video
on
his
dumb
Truth
Social
social
media
platform
which
indicated
that
he
was
indeed
intentionally
causing
the
stock
market
to
fall
in
furtherance
of
his
broader
economic
plans.
Two
days
later,
running
cleanup,
the
director
of
Trump’s
own
White
House
National
Economic
Council
repeatedly
denied
such
claims
on
TV,
saying,
“He’s
not
trying
to
tank
the
market.”
Let’s
all
recollect
that
it’s
not
like
the
stock
market
was
exactly
fantastic
even
before
last
week.
I
wrote
about
a
more
modest
stock
market
rout
that
Trump
caused
a
month
ago.
It’s
almost
as
if
Trump
thought
all
his
insane
whims
would
be
good
for
markets,
but
now
that
it’s
clear
they’re
not,
he’s
just
making
up
excuses
like
he
always
does
when
he
causes
unpopular
things
to
happen.
Look,
let’s
pretend
for
a
moment
that
Trump’s
defenders
are
right
that
huge
mindless
tariffs
will
ultimately
be
an
economic
godsend.
In
that
case,
why
on
earth
would
the
stock
market
collapse
on
news
of
new
tariffs
being
imposed?
It’s
not
like
the
stock
market
is
the
longest-term
predictor
out
there,
but
it
generally
likes
things
that
a
majority
of
traders
think
will
be
good
for
the
economy
over
any
relevant
time
period.
You
see,
stocks
go
up
when
there
is
a
consensus
that
the
companies
whose
securities
are
being
sold
will
be
worth
more
in
the
future
than
they
are
today.
Claims
that
Trump
intentionally
crashed
the
stock
market
or
that
it
is
all
part
of
his
broader
economic
plan
are
nonsense.
The
“concepts
of
a
plan”
guy
has
no
broader
economic
plan.
Presidency
by
jump
scare
does
not
seem
to
be
going
so
well.
Trump
thought
the
stock
market
would
soar
during
a
second
Trump
term,
and
repeatedly
expressed
that
belief.
Now
that
he’s
being
proven
wrong,
he
and
his
most
ardent
supporters
are
simply
trying
to
rewrite
history.
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].