Trump’s very bad day gets worse: Stock market crashes in wake of GOP “memo” failure

Donald Trump never misses an opportunity to brag about two things: himself, and the stock market. Earlier this month, CNBC cautioned him about the stock market, saying, “he may end up regretting his decision to latch onto such a fickle indicator.”

That day has come.

On Friday, the Dow Jones dropped 666 points, its steepest decline in points since the financial crisis of 2008. Both the Dow and S&P 500 dropped by four percent, their biggest weekly drops since Brexit in 2016.

Like Trump’s wealth and his penchant for racism, Trump inherited the healthy economy, complete with falling unemployment and a record number of consecutive months of job growth.

Through all Donald Trump’s many failings — Russia investigations, staffing chaos, racist outbursts, support of an accused child molester for Senate, historic Democratic wins in Virginia, and the list goes on and on — he has consistently acted as if a roaring stock market washed away all sins.

But this significant drop changes the narrative.

According to CNN, “Political turmoil is adding to the uncertainty. Market analysts pointed to the clash between the Trump administration and the FBI as another concern.”

Trump and congressional Republicans have triggered tremendous political uncertainly in recent weeks, culminating in a three-day government shutdown. And while Democrats were able to find a way to fund the government, Republicans are back to playing political games, holding DREAMers hostage to find funds for Trump’s unpopular border wall, which Trump repeatedly said would be paid for by Mexico. Funding for the government runs out on Feb. 8.

Moreover, Trump and complicit Republicans are working overtime to undermine confidence in U.S. institutions, including the FBI.

With the release of a memo by Rep. Devin Nunes, “Republicans delivered on a weeks-long marketing campaign, concocted by House Republicans and Fox News, to gin up to hysterical levels the idea that the Republican-run FBI was somehow out to get Donald Trump and that the the party’s oppo research memo would both demolish the bureau and severely undercut special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.”

“There looks like a breakdown of the institutions in our country,” Ian Winer of Wedbush Securities, told CNN. “No matter what side you’re on, that’s not good.”

While Republicans played a starring role in creating the breakdown and uncertainty that rattled investors, Trump remained quiet as the Dow cratered.

The massive economic downturn may be a one-day event, or it could be the beginning of an economic nosedive. Either way, it shows that the Republican tax scam, despite showering companies with billions of dollars paid for by higher taxes on working-class Americans, is not living up to the hype.

News about the stock market bookends a day of bad economic news for the Trump administration.

In the morning, the Department of Labor announced that unemployment for African Americans jumped up to 7.7 percent, embarrassing a White House which spent the last month endlessly boasting about how the low the unemployment rate for black Americans was when it fell to 6.8 percent in December.

The Dow jones is a poor measure of an administration, no matter who occupies the Oval Office. But if Trump is going to claim credit for the stock market, he shouldn’t hide when the market mirrors his public approval ratings: tanking.