| | | | Live by the Dow. Die by the Dow. | | On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,175 points, the single largest point decline in the history of the market.
The White House response? Something like this:
"Look, markets do fluctuate in the short term, we all know that and they do that for a number of reasons," said White House spokesman Raj Shah. "But the fundamentals of this economy are very strong and they are headed in the right direction, for the middle class in particular."
Which is a TOTALLY reasonable argument to make. Focusing on any one day -- or even one week -- of stock market performance is akin to standing six inches away from a picture and trying to define what is depicted.
Except...
Trump has, repeatedly, taken credit for each and every rise in the stock market since coming into office last January.
"You take a look at what's going on with the stock market," he said in February 2017. "Trillions of dollars of value have been created since I won the election — I mean trillions."
Or this tweet from last summer: "Stock Market could hit all-time high (again) 22,000 today. Was 18,000 only 6 months ago on Election Day. Mainstream media seldom mentions!"
Using the stock market as the leading proof point of your economic successes is a fool's errand. As any economist will tell you.
But that's just what Trump has spent the past year doing. Which means he has to own the bad days, like today.
The Point: Trump's reliance on the rising stock market was always fraught with political peril. He now has to hope that there aren't too may more days like this to come.
-- Chris | | "I am non-braggadocious."
-President Donald Trump | | | | Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl halftime performance wasn't as great as we wanted it to be, so let's throw it back to the good times. Today's pick: *NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye." | | SPEAKING OF THE SUPER BOWL... | | CNN's Scott Glover and Drew Griffin reported Monday a CNN employee found sensitive Department of Homeland Security documents critiquing the response to a simulated anthrax attack on Super Bowl Sunday -- in the seat-back pocket of a commercial flight. Per their article: "The reports were accompanied by the travel itinerary and boarding pass of the government scientist in charge of BioWatch, the DHS program that conducted the anthrax drills in preparation for Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis. Recipients of the draft 'after-action' reports were told to keep them locked up after business hours and to shred them prior to discarding. They were admonished not to share their contents with anyone who lacked 'an operational need-to-know.' CNN decided to withhold publication of this article until after the Super Bowl after government officials voiced concerns that publishing it before the game could jeopardize security for the event."
In other Super Bowl-politics related news: The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl for the first time in the franchise's history on Sunday, but several players have already indicated they will not participate in the traditional White House visit, citing their opposition to President Donald Trump. | | CNN's Ryan Struyk writes:
A new Monmouth poll out today has some good news (and bad news) for both parties on the debate around the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. For Democrats? It's good that a broad 82% say a DACA fix and border wall funding should be dealt with separately and not tied together. It's not so good that 59% say stopping a funding bill over DACA is "unacceptable." For Republicans? Bad news: 73% (!) of Americans — including 61% of Republicans — say they support a plan to just automatically give citizenship to noncriminal DACA recipients and DACA-eligible residents. The good news came a few days ago: Trump's approval rating climbed 10 points after tax reform passed.
Read more of CNN's recent DACA coverage here. | | PENCE'S NORTH KOREA STRATEGY AT THE OLYMPICS | | CNN's Maegan Vazquez reports: "Vice President Mike Pence will deride any notion of normalizing North Korea's relationships with the outside world while he leads the US delegation at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, this week. During the games, Pence will 'make clear that the maximum pressure of the Kim regime will only intensify,' a White House official told reporters, adding that the vice president 'will not allow the North Korean regime to hijack messaging of Olympics with propaganda.'
"North Korea is planning to show off dozens of long-range missiles at a February 8 parade, the day before the Winter Olympics are set to begin in South Korea, two diplomatic sources with deep knowledge of North Korea's intentions told CNN last week."
Read more in CNN's story here. | | Rachel Crooks, a former Bayrock Group receptionist who accused President Donald Trump of kissing her on the mouth without her consent in 2005, is running for office, Cosmoplitan magazine reported Monday. She is running for the state legislature in Ohio.
"I think my voice should have been heard then, and I'll still fight for it to be heard now," Crooks, 35, told the magazine. "Americans are really upset with politics as usual, and I want to be a voice for them."
Crooks is among the group of at least 15 women who have come forward with accusations against Trump, who has vehemently denied the accusations. | | | Former Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann is not running for former Sen. Al Franken's seat in the fall. "It became very clear to me that I wasn't hearing any call from God to do this," Bachmann told radio host Jan Markell in an interview. The news comes just one month after she said she was considering running. "I've had people contact me and urge me to run for that Senate seat, and the only reason I would run is for the ability to take these principles into the United States Senate," Bachmann told "The Jim Bakker Show" in January. "The question is, should it be me? Should it be now?"
Franken's temporary replacement in the Senate is Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota. She is expected to run in November's special election. | | | We welcome hat tips! AKA tell people you know to subscribe to The Point. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | | | | |
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