A Surviving Facts Blog
The stock market has been a bucking bronco for the last few weeks. Rearing up, then furiously kicking its hind legs in the guts of millions of Americans’ retirement savings.
Were you able to make tons from the stock market while it has tanked, and shot up, over the last few days? Were you able to predict exactly when the markets would go up and down? No? The billionaires could.
Here’s a sequence of events that any human being believing in fairness should protest.
April 9- the day Trump’s Tarriffs go into effect
At 9:37am, on Truth Social, Trump tells everyone, “Now is a great time to buy!” He even encourages the far right audience to buy his own company’s stock. “Buy DJT!,” he exclaims. The markets had been unhappy about the tariffs. The Dow Jones had lost 5.50% or 2,231 points; the S&P had fallen almost 6% to 5,074. The NASDAQ was at 15,587, a nearly 6% decline.
Days before, rumbling had started. Larry Fink was planning a meeting with Trump. The “tech bros,” as they are called, were scheduling a weekend visit to Mar-A-Lago. The goal: to talk some sense into Trump. They had no need to wait, however.
At 1:19pm, Trump pauses the tariffs for 90 days. The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P soar, skyrocketing 7.87%, 12.16% and 9.52%, respectively.
Later on the same day the encouragement to buy and pause are announced, a video surfaces of Trump and some of his B-Boys (that’s Billionaire Boys) in the Oval Office. Trump is bragging to a room of gleeful men. “He made 2 1/2 billion and he made 900 million!” Trump points to Charles Schwab and NASCAR-owner Roger Penske. Both of them, along with other billionaires, raked in $304 billion in 4 hours as markets soared. Elon Musk alone made $36 billion. The world’s 10 richest collectively made $136 billion. The men in the room- all white men- laugh. It had been a great day.
How did Trump coincidentally announce the tariff pause on the same day he was meeting with some of the world’s richest men? No coincidence, of course. This is just another example of the US’s billionaire-autocracy playing out before our eyes.
By any definition, this is insider trading. Martha Stewart avoided a loss of $45,000, made around $51,000 and went to jail for 5 months when she was accused and then convicted of insider trading. That’s a 5-figure sum she made, not 12.
The difference between this incidence and Martha Stewart’s? The SEC won’t accuse Trump and the billionaires of insider trading. They won’t do anything. Even though Americans watched the biggest market manipulation, possibly the biggest ever, play out before our eyes, nothing will come of it.
Instead, we will see the chummy glee of rich white men getting richer with the belief that they actually did something to earn it- something other than being already rich with unfettered access to power. Will they pay more taxes? No. Their earnings will be dumped into shell companies and other tactics to avoid paying taxes. Will they donate more to charity? It’s unlikely. None of these men are known for their generous donations. In fact, Elon Musk has repeatedly said Mackenzie’s Scott’s philanthropy is anti-capitalist. Will any of these men solve some of the US’s biggest issues- homelessness, hunger, poverty? No. They will focus on the lower taxes Trump has promised them in exchange for their support.
We are now in a state of relativism.
The many-layered relativism of unethical conduct that Trump’s leadership has spawned has conditioned many of us to have, “add this to the list” attitudes. We are used to the shock of Trump’s behaviors and how obvious he is about them. Trump always talks about his crimes. He “grabs women by the pussy,” he rigs elections, he provides billionaire cronies and his cult followers with insider information so that they can profit. Each of these statements are recorded and played all over social media and in the news. Some of these spaces explode with outrage, and then the fury dissipates. We have become the frog in the pot of boiling water. We don’t even notice the increasing heat anymore. We have been groomed to think this is all normal.
Men in great power have often abused this power- and so have some women. Until the last ten or so years, however, we had collective outrage. Politicians, even, could find some ground for agreement. We shared common definitions of decency and ethics. A broken law was a broken law. Whether one was a president or not, didn’t matter. The Supreme Court changed all that when they permitted the president to commit crimes in office. The logic then flows- if he can do it, why can’t I? It can’t really be bad if the Supreme Court doesn’t care. This is how a violent break-in and uprising, the murder of innocent men and women on Capitol Hill become peaceful tourists on a day visit.
We know what we’ve seen with our own eyes. We know what we’ve heard with our own ears. It’s been recorded! We can listen and see over and over and over. More than half of the population sees the horror in the heart of darkness. Few speak out. More often, we are afraid to speak lest we be punished. May I remind all of us that we never had this fear until Trump?
The other part of the population- and it’s not even half; it’s more like one-quarter of one half- can watch the same videos and listen to the same conversations and will argue that what we’re seeing and hearing isn’t there. It’s gaslighting at a terrifying level. What are we left with when we can no longer trust our eyes and ears (and I’m not talking about AI-generated and doctored images and tapes)? Who do we turn to when power has so firmly entrenched the wealthy that there’s no room anymore for others to find their way in? When crime and behavior are relative to who does it rather than what happened?
In history, only radical movements have solved a situation like this. The French Revolution occurred when the peasant class was tired of the greed and apathy of the ruling aristocracy. If those in power would not improve the lives of peasants, then they would rise up themselves and demand it. This led to overthrowing the monarchy and establishing a republic. In fact, the American Revolution had achieved similar goals just a few years before the French did.
I am beginning to believe that common sense and a shared understandings of integrity, ethics, laws and leadership no longer will save America. We’ve lost our moorings held together by our belief in what America was. Is revolution next?
I would love to hear from you, even if, especially if, you disagree. Perhaps we can bring back the American tradition of debate.
Please like and share this blog with others. Subscribe to receive it by email and go directly to the Walk the Moon website to peruse the full collection of articles and updates. You can email me from the Walk the Moon website as well.
Walk the Moon 