The Market Swoon Isn’t All About Trump
It is demonstrating, though, just how poorly the president will probably react when faced with real adversity.
All eyes on me.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images
If one can ascribe a coherent worldview to President Donald Trump, it is that it’s all about him. That is, everything that happens on this earth, or at the very least this country, is his doing if it’s good and a personal affront to him if it’s bad.
After two years during which things generally went well, and the president claimed credit for it, it is thus only natural to see this month’s stock-market sell-off as a referendum on Donald Trump. But while the president’s overly personalized reaction to the downturn may have worsened the market turmoil and could conceivably even unleash an actual crisis — more on that in a moment — it’s worth contemplating what else could be driving it. Here are a few obvious candidates: