Denying reality, Donald Trump continues to claim America is "rounding the corner" on the coronavirus pandemic and brag that the stock market is rebounding to near pre-pandemic levels. Well, today's developments demonstrate that those claims are nothing but fake news.
As Trump barnstorms key battleground states such as Pennsylvania today with rallies that bring together thousands of adoring mostly maskless supporters, he claims that his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, has "waved the white flag on life". But his own chief of staff, Mark Meadows, admitted to CNN yesterday that the Trump administration has waved the white flag on the coronavirus.
And on a day when Vice President Mike Pence continued his own campaign rallies, even though his chief of staff, body man, and three other staffers have tested positive for Covid-19, Trump's vaunted stock market tanked, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 650 points, or 2.3 percent, the S&P dropped 1.9 percent, and the Nasdaq slipped 1.6 percent.
Gone were all of the blue-chip index's gains for October. A big fat hole in Trump's stock market balloon.
So, Mr. Trump, with election day just over a week away, coronavirus cases and deaths are spiking and the market is tanking, and you and Pence are running around the country saying everything is fine risking peoples' lives. Anybody with a brain that's not been tainted with your Clorox cure must see that you, with your claims that the pandemic is simply going to disappear on November 4, are simply full of, err, baloney.
As of today, there were 225,000 deaths and 8.74 million cases of Covid-19, which Trump claims is because the number of tests are increasing. If we didn't test so much, there wouldn't be so many cases, he believes. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So if we didn't test for breast cancer, it would go away, right?
On top of the fact that nobody with any sense can believe Trump's foolish claims, the fact that his administration has not been able to reach agreement with Congress on a further economic stimulus package has combined with worries about the continued rise in Covid-19 cases to send the market down.
The Washington Post quoted Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist with LPL Financial, as saying this:
“The double whammy of a stalled stimulus bill and new highs in cases is a harsh reminder of the many worries that are still out there. Most of the recent economic data has been strong, but when you see parts of Europe going back to rolling shutdowns, it reminds us this fight is still far from over.”
Investors and analysts are not known for ignoring reality. They can see through Trump's BS, and they vote with their money based on facts and logic, not wishful thinking or fake news. Today, they voted against Trump and his phony claims that 'We're rounding the corner."
Trump continues to predict that if Biden wins, the market will crash "like you've never seen," and your 401Ks will be toast. Perhaps, just the opposite will occur. Perhaps there will be hope among investors that strong action will be taken to combat the pandemic and the market will rise. Ever think of that?
Meanwhile, the Trump-Pence rallies continue, with attendees ignoring masks and crowding together shoulder to shoulder as they chant and cheer for Trump or for Vice President Pence, a walking, talking Covid-19 petrie dish.
As all of this is happening, battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin are seeing case numbers surge, with health systems cracking under the strain. El Paso, TX, has returned to lockdown status.To win, Trump needs those states.
Experts continue to predict that the number of cases, and deaths, will continue to rise, with one study predicting 500,000 deaths by February.
That is catastrophic. It is the catastrophe of Donald J. Trump.
November 3rd.