Imaginary Calls

Several paragraphs into an article Wednesday about Donald Trump's increasing anxiety (link here) came a startling revelation. Trump was lying when he said China had contacted the White House to restart talks in an attempt to resolve the trade and tariff mess the President created.

"Aides privately conceded the phone calls Trump described didn't happen the way he said they did," the linked article reports. "Instead, two officials said Trump was eager to project optimism that might boost markets."

Bottom line: Trump was trying to push up the stock market. And that is a crime. Specifically it's what's called "market manipulation" and that's a criminal violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

While Trump's aides said the lie was meant to boost the stock market, it's also likely it was meant to boost his reelection campaign. It makes Trump look like he caused the Chinese to blink and reach out to him. Except the opposite is true. They didn't call and, instead, let him wallow in his own self-made disaster.