Donald Trump is quickly learning a painful lesson: The stock market is a fickle mistress.
After basking in her seemingly faithful embrace for more than three years, she’s all but abandoned him precisely when he needs her the most.
With the Dow Jones Industrial Average teetering on the precipice of a bear market – potentially the fastest reversal in history – Trump is behaving exactly like the spurned lover he is.
Trump’s desperate attempts to sweet-talk the stock market into submission are his way of working through the five stages of grief.
They mirror the stalkerish antics of a jilted ex-boyfriend. And just like the worst offenders, he’s doing it all in public.
It all began two weeks ago, when the stock market suffered its first true coronavirus-related shock.
Trump promptly denied that coronavirus was a threat to the United States. And then he delivered this gem: “Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
The Dow Jones has crashed another 14% since he posted that tweet.
Trump and his advisors have continued to deny that
That he’s at all responsible for the stock market’s losses (even though he is responsible for all the records it set in the months prior).
Denial may
The final stage of grief is acceptance.
Trump may never get that far.
But if the stock market doesn’t snap back into recovery mode soon, don’t be surprised if he makes it to the fourth stage – depression – shortly after he delivers a concession speech on November 3.