OpEd: The Trump Trade

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Donald Trump has been re-elected as President of the United States. I didn’t vote for the guy. But I woke up the next day to a booming stock market and the Trump Trade.

The first stocks to move were the financial and industrial companies. Trump supports Bitcoin and other digital currencies, and the platforms that support them skyrocketed. One of Trump’s positions is to balance America’s gold holdings with equal amounts of digital assets. Elon Musk has joined the Trump team to eliminate waste and streamline processes inside the government.

Also moving were the domestic material sectors, steel, and threats of tariffs put the rebounding Chinese market into a temporary reversal. Media companies jumped as they greeted a more welcome regulatory environment. Corporate leaders embraced de-regulation. Old school oil and gas companies saw their stocks rise while new age green economy companies took a pause. Technology and carbon capture would be the way forward to the climate change crisis in this administration. And the airlines saw pops, as well as the hotels with optimism for the economy, travel, which will benefit to West Hollywood.

Defense companies and the ETFs (exchange traded funds) moved in sync with the hope that the new president would invest in peace through strength. Increases in defense spending could come at the expense of social services or perceived waste in the social services complex. There would be a different approach to the same problems. On ‘The View’, Joy Behar was speechless when confronted with her projections of a world coming to an end.

And therein lies the problem. Lots of screaming during the election projecting fear and grievances. Right here at home we saw it at the Fountain Ave. protests. I drove by the ‘for bike lane crowd’ and was told to ‘go over there’, ‘this is the Hang/Erickson side.’ To which I replied, ‘we are all on the Weho side.’ It’s the WeHo side, people, don’t you get it?

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On the trail I was often asked, are you Democrat or Republican? I’m an independent. Many times I heard we ‘need more red in this town’. West Hollywood has many diverse voices. Some scream so loud that others are afraid to speak up. That includes those who speak at the public comment podium and city council members who do not respect the residents enough to allow them freedom of thought, or the respect to return a phone call.

Trump’s win is shocking. It’s time to understand how that happened. Perhaps we need to find a better way to talk to each other and not at each other. And somebody needs to reflect on how West Hollywood’s direction and priorities can work to find the common ground. It is important that the Chamber of Commerce, or the City Council put some thought into what the Trump trade means for West Hollywood. Our hospitality industry, and resident oriented social service programs depend on anticipating needs before they happen.

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Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
4 days ago

Vote

Last edited 4 days ago by Ida Lupino
Weho Joe
Weho Joe
24 days ago

What about human rights for all people. Trade our ethos for money?

Stephen
Stephen
24 days ago

It’s kind of bittersweet when a 20 year old foolishly thinks the elderly lifelong conartist is going to make good on his promise to help America (and not steal from it and cheat his way through every day of his 2nd term). But when an older person who should know better spouts that same foolish optimism? That’s just bitterly sad.

Sometime before the next election, if there even still are elections after Project 2025? – this country has GOT to figure out better ways to educate its electorate. The vast majority of American voters are plain stupid.

Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
4 days ago
Reply to  Stephen

Stupid because they don’t agree with you? The almighty, whose opinion is the ONLY one. How commie-dictator of you. This folks, is the glaring reason why open borders, condescending, illegal aliens First- to steal HOUSE SEATS’ Democrats will likely not see power again possibly for decades. Most Americans are fed up with pompous, elitist twits who have exposed the nation to god only know what kind of terrorism and disease with 15 million people we know zero about. 9/11 wasn’t enough for Democrat hypocrites, nor was the pandemic…their lust for political power was more important than safety. You have the… Read more »

GetReal!
GetReal!
26 days ago

Trump is literally the spawn of Satan. A facsimile of a human being, devoid of morals and human decency. He spews lies and is utterly incapable of telling the truth. The economy has been difficult because Joe Biden had to clean up the mess he left behind the last time he was in office. Trump is beholden to the lunatic religious fringe who will not rest until abortion rights are stripped nationwide. Trump will be a disaster for the United States. His cabinet picks already are dangerous and incompetent, just like Trump himself.

Gotten Real Already
Gotten Real Already
25 days ago
Reply to  GetReal!

You are spot on. Trump started on “day one” to assemble the cast for his upcoming horror movie about how he took over the United States gov’t & became America’s first dictator. Those who can’t see or understand what’s going on & what “Project 25” is, that the so called “supreme” court is part of the Heritage Foundation agenda & plan for America- well, I feel sorry for you because those who want to take us down, will go down with us. Donald Trump is Satan in the flesh & the epitome of evil.

Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
4 days ago
Reply to  GetReal!

“devoid of morals and human decency.”
Democrats LIED about and paid for “RUSSIAGATE”, installed an incapacitated idiot suffering from dementia (whose ENTIRE career has been on big lie), drove families into poverty with the highest inflation since the Depression, took better care of tens of millions of illegal aliens they brought here to STEAL HOUSE SEATS vs. helping poor Americans, or veterans.
The deviants are Democrats that have flooded poor American’s communities with drugs, illegal aliens, third world schools, depressed wages and 24/7 propaganda, and dangerous gangs.
Exactly WHO has the moral high ground.

BloodshotEyedGuy
BloodshotEyedGuy
1 month ago

As a gay man, I’m so genuinely happy that Mr. D. J. Trump is back to save America. God is good. 🙏

Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
4 days ago

The majority of ALL Americans are too.

Joshua88
Joshua88
1 month ago

Lovely sentiment.
The stock market has been breaking records since Biden has been in office, though.

Gimmeabreak
Gimmeabreak
1 month ago
Reply to  Joshua88

Not until it started to look like Trump was going to win.

Also, crypto is way up! Bitcoin is at $90,000 this morning.

yo yo ma
yo yo ma
29 days ago
Reply to  Gimmeabreak

You’re wrong about the stock market. It didn’t look like Trump was going to win until the evening of the election – before then every single poll had Harris & Trump within 1-2% of each other and a few that showed Harris had near double digit lead. Dow was 30,800 in January of 2021. On election day 2024 it was at 42,221 – a 27% increase and near the record that was set 2 weeks prior. It’s currently up to 43,958.

Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
4 days ago
Reply to  yo yo ma

Harris Camp admitted their own internal polling NEVER showed the tied or leading. Basically, a $1.5 Billion dollar lie. She was horrible in California and people saw right through the lie. Never should have even been Senator.

Joshua88
Joshua88
28 days ago
Reply to  Joshua88

See for yourself.

Screenshot-2024-11-14-at-16-03-23-Dow-Jones-10-Year-Daily-Chart-MacroTrends
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
4 days ago
Reply to  Joshua88

And those prices in the grocery stores prove it. HAHA!
That must be why we are so much safer with millions of imported criminal gangs raping, killing and committing violent crimes.

Calef Ornia
Calef Ornia
1 month ago

We’ve had 4 years of Trump (minus the wuhan flu period) and 4 years with this administration. How many people are saving more today than in Trump’s years? If people are honest the answer will be not many or zero. Trump is a commoner for the commoner except he’s a billionaire. Remember people, this isn’t high school. Policies matter not popularity or lovey doves sayings. Most of the people I know and call friends in WeHo are high school educated and are somewhat incapable of critical thinking or a compare and contrast assessment (honest assessments only) of the two administrations.… Read more »

C.R.
C.R.
1 month ago
Reply to  Calef Ornia

Well hopefully you let your “friends” know how little you think of their apparently limited intellectual abilities, and you’re not a complete two faced hypocrite there telling them otherwise. Honesty is the best policy and everything has a way of getting sorted out for the best.

Calif Ornia
Calif Ornia
22 days ago
Reply to  C.R.

Not only do they know what I think of them not having a college experince but they ask questions to gain knowledge and opinions other than their own! Education helps you think critical, or at least it had in the past before the indoctrination started. You on the other hand offer nothing to anyone except blathering about nonsense. I don’t have to like what my friends think outside of being a bigot. They are entitled to their own opinions (not facts). I can only hope that your ‘friends’ offer the same to you but I highly doubt it using your… Read more »

C.R.
C.R.
1 month ago

A nice bump for those holding stock, but the clock is going to be ticking on delivering on the promises of cutting inflation, specifically in food and fuel prices. If that doesn’t happen, there’s going to be a lot of backlash turmoil. The clock will also be ticking on slashing programs that help the poorest, those will be on the Republican chopping block as soon as possible. Locally, you do that to any substantial degree, you’re looking at a corresponding increase in crime to make up for the losses of the safety nets. Everyone is going to be more in… Read more »

Poor Me
Poor Me
1 month ago

How many people in West Hollywood know or care about all this stock market rant? It’s Greek to me & I have a feeling it is Greek to many or even most of our WeHo population. 4 out of 7 paragraphs in this article are about the stock market & investing in it. What I infer from this article is that Larry Block cares more about money (& power) for himself more than he cares about the character of the president, who wants to ship millions of people living in America, back to their countries of origin, nullify our Constitution… Read more »

Gimmeabreak
Gimmeabreak
1 month ago
Reply to  Poor Me

It took you a lot of time and effort to write this and you succeeded only in showing how little you know. I could take issue with everything you said but I will limit myself to just two: The federal Department of Education was established in 1979 by Jimmy Carter. Until that time each state determined how their schools would be run, and many states deferred to their counties in their state. That’s because they wisely believed the more localized the education program was the more effective it would be. And they were right! Our nations’s schools were highly regarded… Read more »

Poor Me
Poor Me
1 month ago
Reply to  Gimmeabreak

Yaaaaawn!

JF1
JF1
1 month ago
Reply to  Poor Me

I, for one, am thrilled.

Stevie
Stevie
1 month ago
Reply to  Poor Me

Please inform us in which court was Trump CONVICTED of rape, oh that’s right you cannnot. You are excellent at sowing the same old Democrat propaganda of lies which keeps the old welfare queens and welfare state alive.

Rodrigo
Rodrigo
28 days ago
Reply to  Poor Me

This rant clearly shows you get your political news from The View.

:dpb
:dpb
1 month ago

Thank you, Larry. I appreciate the way you think past the problem for the solutions. We have four years with Trump and four years with Erickson and Hang- talk about babbling talking heads at both ends of the spectrum. As much as my social consciousness wants to first run and hide; second, protest and third yell, scream and throw things, it would be more proactive to take advantage of each spectrum’s programs to expand my world standing. Remember: when the planes going down, we put our oxygen mask on first.

Last edited 1 month ago by :dpb
TomSmart
TomSmart
1 month ago

I ain’t got nothin

Jeff
Jeff
1 month ago

What ya buying Block-

gdaddy
gdaddy
1 month ago
Reply to  Larry Block

Probably best to just buy VTI. That said, NVDA is the best overall individual stock. GOOGL is a really good value and growth stock. I also like having some SPMO to track stocks with great momentum.