All three networks on Monday broke in with special reports that the stock market plummeted over 1000 points. Yet, it was ABC that spun the bad news as time for Donald Trump to take ownership of the stock market. NBC, which hasn’t exactly promoted the idea that Trump had anything to do with last year’s gains, chided: “In the past, presidents have tried to shy away for taking too much credit for stock market games because on the flip side there's the possibility you own the losses too.”
She chided, “And that seems to be the lesson this President is possibly learning today.” Jackson reminded:
On the one hand, you had the president in Cincinnati, he's on the road today talking up his tax law and talking about what it has been to the economy and at the same time you had the Dow plunging almost minute for minute as the President was speaking. It is not the optics that the White House necessarily wants to see.
As the Media Research Center’s Julia A. Seymour noted, on Friday the stock market’s 666 point drop got 33 percent more network coverage than the Dow hitting 25,000 and 26,000. In January, CBS noticed the 25,000 mark, but credited the tax cuts delivered by “Congress.”
On Monday, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos provided a surprisingly more sober analysis of the market:
But, of course, [Monday’s stock market fall] comes on top of a healthy gain over the last year. If you look back to when President Trump was inaugurated, back in January of 2017, the Dow was below 20,000. Now, about 24,000. So, close to a 25 percent rise since 2017. But it has been a tough day on Wall Street right now.
On CBS’s special report, Bianna Golodryga reminded, “To put this into perspective since the president has been in office the market has been up some 30 percent.”
A transcript of NBC’s special report can be read by clicking on “expand” below:
NBC News special report
2/5/18
4:02
HALLIE JACKSON: White House officials saying “Listen, they understand that the stock market will fluctuate in the short term, but they believe, in their words, that the fundamentals of economy are strong. You're right that just a week ago the President was down Pennsylvania Avenue touting the state of the economy in his State of the Union speech. It is one of his favorite and most frequent talking points, but it set up a really interesting split screen today.
On the one hand, you had the president in Cincinnati, he's on the road today talking up his tax law and talking about what it has been to the economy and at the same time you had the Dow plunging almost minute for minute as the President was speaking. It is not the optics that the White House necessarily wants to see. Remember, this is a president who just a couple weeks ago talked about possibly hitting 30,000. In the past, presidents have tried to shy away for taking too much credit for stock market games because on the flip side there's the possibility you own the losses too. And that seems to be the lesson this President is possibly learning today. He's due back at the White House a little later on this afternoon, Lester. We'll see if he answers any questions from reporters on this then.
