It is not every day that you see a former president trending for possibly moving the stock market with a few words. But that is exactly what happened recently when Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account. Now, people are asking serious questions about whether those posts were just casual opinions or a deliberate move to shift the market for profit.
Did Trump’s social media post really move the market?
This is where everything started. On a Wednesday morning, right after the U.S. stock market opened, Trump posted in all caps on Truth Social:
“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
Now, let us pause right there. Think about this — a former president, still very influential, telling millions of followers to buy stocks. That is a big deal. It is not just some random person giving advice. It is someone who people listen to, and someone who still has pull in politics and business.
Then, just a few hours later, Trump announced that he would pause the harshest tariffs on most countries. And guess what happened?
- The Dow Jones shot up nearly 3,000 points.
- Investors who followed his morning advice and bought early would have made huge profits by the end of that same day.
This led to a lot of eyebrows being raised.
Why are people saying this could be stock market manipulation?
When you look at how the events played out, it is not hard to see why some folks are suspicious. Here is what triggered the accusations:
- Trump made a strong statement encouraging people to buy stocks.
- He then made a policy decision (pausing tariffs) that helped stocks rise quickly.
- People who acted on his early post could have made a lot of money.
To critics, it looked too convenient. That is why some lawmakers and ethics experts are now calling for an investigation. They want to know if this was just bad judgment or something more serious — like manipulation or insider trading.
What are lawmakers saying about Trump’s actions?
Some Democratic lawmakers are leading the charge, saying this whole thing needs to be looked at closely. For example:
- Sen. Adam Schiff and Sen. Ruben Gallego sent a letter to the White House asking for an “urgent inquiry.”
- They want to know if Trump, his family, or anyone in his circle used advance knowledge of his tariff decision to make money on the stock market.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren called it “corruption in plain sight” and said this could not be ignored.
The key concern here is whether Trump or anyone close to him traded stocks knowing what policy change was coming.
What do ethics experts think about this?
Even people who worked in Republican administrations are worried. Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, made a very strong point. He said:
“We cannot have senior public officials — including the president — talking about stock prices and where to buy or sell at the same time as they are making and announcing decisions that have a dramatic impact on stock prices.”
Painter said that if anyone in the Bush White House had done this, they would have been fired. He did not say Trump definitely manipulated the market, but he called it extremely dangerous and irresponsible.
Can the SEC do anything about this?
The SEC — the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — is supposed to handle things like insider trading and market manipulation. But in this case, do not expect much action. Here is why:
- The Senate just confirmed a Trump ally, Paul Atkins, to lead the SEC.
- Trump also signed an executive order that gives him more control over independent regulatory agencies.
- Many experts believe that the SEC is unlikely to go after Trump under the current leadership.
Even though the accusations are serious, there is not much faith that anything will come out of it — at least not right now.
