Friday morning, Donald Trump was on fire on Twitter, blazing off angry missives about China, the Federal Reserve, fentanyl, and outsourcing, and issuing directives to American companies like a dictator. But in one of his early tweets, during a moment of anger at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, he called the econ chair “our enemy,” sparking a precipitous drop in the stock market, taking the Dow, the S&P, and the NASDAQ all down by more than two full percentage points.
As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can “speak” without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work “brilliantly” with both, and the U.S. will do great…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
….My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
But the exact timing of Trump’s tweet — as noted by even right-wing commentator Erick Erickson coincided perfectly with the beginning of the crash:
The drop in the markets directly corresponds to the President calling the Fed Chair an enemy of the United States. pic.twitter.com/mAi0xZK7Ce
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 23, 2019
Trump thought it would be funny, however, to blame former Democratic presidential candidate Seth Moulton, a four-tour veteran who led one of the first invasions into Baghdad in 2003 and was awarded the Bronze Star. Moulton dropped out of the race on Friday, and was a perfect target for Trump’s dark and inappropriate humor:
The Dow is down 573 points perhaps on the news that Representative Seth Moulton, whoever that may be, has dropped out of the 2020 Presidential Race!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
Of course, that was nearly an hour ago, and the Dow is down even more now — already the tenth-biggest single-day point drop in the history of the market.
Funny joke, Mr. President.
Featured image via screen capture
Like what you see here? Join the discussion on Facebook over at Americans For Sanity!
