The global threat of a pandemic has panicked investors and the rest of the planet is next.
By David Todd McCarty | Wednesday, March 11, 2020
With the Dow Jones reaching Bear Market levels (20% down from its high just a month ago), and stocks continuing their free fall over a lack of investor confidence that the Trump Administration is up to the task of averting a global financial crisis, it’s clear that President Trump lacks anything resembling leadership in times of crisis. His style of leading by creating chaos is the opposite of what you traditionally want during a crisis, but the markets up until now relied on the strength of their own cunning to combat Trump’s irrational behavior and willful ignorance.
The global markets have so far been able to handle the chaos and uncertainty of a Trump presidency rather well, because frankly, beyond Brexit, there were few other global crises that had the ability to overshadow them. But it’s now clear that they weren’t prepared to handle a global pandemic on top of it of the political and economic chaos already afoot.
We’re in the middle of an election year here in America, and the Democratic Party seems to have pulled off a miracle in electing a candidate in Joe Biden that is everything Trump is not, an establishment type that has experience in calming a skittish market. So now we head towards a global, financial meltdown that isn’t caused by investor confidence, or an economic downturn, but by the very real absence of consumers in the market.
It will not be easy to campaign for President when millions are self-quarantined. It will not be easy to calm the public when schools are cancelled and no one goes to work. It will not be easy when businesses shutter and industries go bankrupt from the sheer lack of patronage. Restaurants, stores and malls will empty, yet hospitals will be overflowing. Cruise ships will stay moored. Flights cancelled. Hotels empty.
It’s callous to think that the Democratic Party would pray for an economic downturn or a global health crisis simply in order to hurt Trump’s chances in 2020, but it’s safe to say that the President knows that this is the worst possible scenario when it comes to his reelection. He is not a crisis leader and he never was. He is incapable of rising to the challenge, telling hard truths, rallying allies, making difficult or nuanced decisions, let alone working towards the public good. He sees only how this will affect him. He’s still just that angry toddler, sitting alone in his room, wondering why the world doesn’t love him.
So there, The Leader of the Free World sits, on his bed, in front of his television, listening to Fox News lie to the American people, shouting into the abyss 280 characters at a time, telling us that “all is well.”
It’s time for America to come to its senses and realize our failures as a people to ever have allowed this huckster to gain access to the White House, let alone to remain in charge. Trump could actually bring this country together after all, united in disgust.
Follow David Todd McCarty on Twitter @davidtmccarty and The Standard @capemaystandard
