Trump criticisms surge while stock market plummets
You know things are bad for President Donald Trump and his administration when he has lost even conservative media like Fox News.
During a Monday segment, host John Roberts gave a blunt assessment of the economy after U.S. stocks plummeted.
“The commerce secretary and the president are having different messages on the same day,” Jonathan Kott, a former adviser to ex-Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, said. “That’s not giving the market any sort of ease or certainty for investors. So I wouldn’t be surprised if we have an even greater crash.”
“The Dow is 1,500 points below where it was when Donald Trump took office—that’s not a good look,” Roberts replied.
By that first statement, Kott was highlighting that Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Trump were seemingly not aligned regarding what Americans should expect.
Initially, Trump refused to provide a clear answer about the possibility of a recession, saying, “I hate to predict things like that. … There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big.” Then, on Sunday, he told reporters he was not worried about a recession. The same day, Lutnick insisted on NBC News that Americans should “absolutely not” prepare for a recession and maintained that the U.S. was entering a period of “transition.”
But things have only worsened since these comments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,000 points on Monday, and economists at JPMorgan Chase said that the odds of a recession have risen from 30% to 40%, attributing it to “extreme U.S. policies.”
Other financial experts are also raising concerns. Lawrence Summers, a former secretary of the treasury, posted on social media Monday evening that he warned a CNN reporter about the nation facing equal chances of entering an economic recession.
“I think there is a real possibility of a recession. I would have said a couple months ago a recession was really unlikely this year. Now, it’s probably not 50/50 but getting close to 50/50,” he wrote. “There is one central reason. Economic policies that are completely counterproductive.”
Trump bears much of the responsibility for these disastrous policies, even if his administration wants to downplay and point fingers elsewhere. Last week, his pledge to impose tariffs ranging from 10% to 25% on some of the nation’s largest trading partners—Canada, China, and Mexico—spooked investors and caused global stock markets to tumble.
Indeed, following this harsh reality check regarding the negative effects of tariffs, Trump and his team’s messaging has been lackluster and, at times, nonsensical. In response to Monday’s poor market performance, one Politico reporter noted on X that Trump’s White House is “dismissing market fluctuations as the short-term effects of ‘animal spirits,’ but also acknowledges there’s some economic pain ahead.”
One White House official told the reporter, “It’s hard to rip the Band-Aid off without getting some blood everywhere.”
Then there’s Trump, who hasn’t directly addressed the most recent recession forecasts but has found time to double down on his disastrous tariff idea. Since Monday, he’s been busy resharing posts that present him in a favorable light on his social media platform, Truth Social. In one of his more recent posts, he directed his administration to double the tariffs imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum by an additional 25%, bringing the total duties to 50%.
It’s easy to see why Trump is avoiding the truth. After all, his promises to address the high cost of living and rising prices were among the main reasons he was elected in November.
“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting Day 1,” he declared in August, according to CNN.
But here’s the reality of Trump’s time in office so far: Grocery prices haven’t gone down seven weeks into his administration. In fact, according to a February report from the Department of Agriculture, all food prices are expected to rise significantly by 3.4% this year. Egg prices, specifically, are anticipated to surge by an eye-popping 41.1% this year.
As Daily Kos has reported previously, Fox News isn’t the only one turning its back on Trump. The public is too. According to data from Civiqs, Trump’s support appears to be dwindling since he was inaugurated in January. An updated tracker of his favorability ratings as of March 10 showed him underwater, with 45% of registered voters indicating a favorable view of the president and 53% holding an unfavorable view.
If Trump’s economic policies are alienating him from voters, the former notion of him being a popular president amid a major political realignment now seems particularly hollow.
Leave it to Trump to ruin the country in just a few weeks.