On Saturday morning, Donald Trump took to Twitter to brag about Friday’s stock market surge, saying, “BIGGEST STOCK MARKET RISE IN HISTORY YESTERDAY!”
BIGGEST STOCK MARKET RISE IN HISTORY YESTERDAY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2020
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Of course, what he didn’t mention was the fact that Friday’s spike in the markets came a day after the Dow had its worst day in 30 years as the Trump administration continued to bungle its response to this heath crisis.
More importantly, Trump is bragging about the one-day jump in the markets even though it came on the same day that U.S. coronavirus cases saw the largest single-day increase to date.
Ryan Struyk of CNN on Friday listed the number of cases per day throughout the entire month of March. According to the data, the number of coronavirus cases stood at 2,131 as of 6:00 p.m. on March 13 – nearly 500 more than the 1,645 reported the day before.
That’s the largest single-day jump in the U.S. since this virus hit American shores.
US coronavirus cases in March via @CNN:
3/1 – 89 cases
3/2 – 105 cases
3/3 – 125 cases
3/4 – 159 cases
3/5 – 227 cases
3/6 – 331 cases
3/7 – 444 cases
3/8 – 564 cases
3/9 – 728 cases
3/10 – 1,000 cases
3/11 – 1,267 cases
3/12 – 1,645 cases
3/13 – 2,131 cases (as of 6 p.m.)— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) March 13, 2020
In just two weeks, the number of coronavirus cases in the United States has gone from 89 to 2,131 – and that’s almost certainly a low estimate given the scarce amount of testing that’s been available in this country.
Trump keeps proving that he only cares how this crisis will affect his reelection
Trump’s Friday afternoon press conference in which he wheeled out a bunch of corporate executives appeared to have only one purpose: give the markets a jolt a day after the Dow had one of its worst days in history.
As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes noted, “The entire press conference now appears to be an attempt to pump up stocks of big american companies right before the close. Astonishing.”
Whether it’s blocking aggressive coronavirus testing or constantly playing to the markets instead of treating this as a global health crisis, Donald Trump keeps proving that he only cares about one thing: protecting his reelection campaign.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
