It’s often said that stock markets, whether good or bad, are unfairly linked to whoever sits in the Oval Office. Stocks reflect how investors feel about the economy. The Federal Reserve is the agency with the biggest sway over the economy. And the Fed for decades has enjoyed an independence that has shielded it from whatever political storms may be raging at any given time.
That hasn’t prevented presidents from being evaluated according to how the stock market fared during their terms in office. The Dow Jones Industrial Average more than doubled under Presidents Reagan and Obama, more than tripled under President Clinton and fell 27% under President George W. Bush. Under President Trump, the Dow was up 33% as of last week. Following the recent selloff if the past six days, it’s now up 25%.
Right now, the notion that Trump is responsible for the stock market is strong, mostly because that claim has been hammered over and over—by Trump himself. Never mind that Trump has been president for fewer than two years of a nine-plus year bull market.
In February, when a selloff caused the S&P 500 to fall 10%, the president switched tactics, claiming the stock market had failed to reflect the strong economy. And he had a point: The economy was still steaming ahead, and after the correction ended, stocks powered higher.
Now that the S&P has lost 7% in a little more than a week, Trump is no longer touting—or even doubting—the stock market. He’s passing the buck to the Fed. “The problem I have is with the Fed. The Fed is going wild,” Trump said on an interview with Fox News Thursday. “The Fed is going loco and there’s no reason for them to do it.” That followed comments at a Wednesday rally that the Fed was “crazy” and “making a mistake.”