Published Apr 29, 2025 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute readPhoto by PEXELS /FILEGet wise to manipulation of marketsWhen is the world going to wake up to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to manipulate the markets so that he and his cronies can make millions from the downturns and upturns?Threaten tariffs and the markets fall, so he and his cronies buy low. Reduce the tariff threat, so markets rise.Threaten to sack the head of the Federal Reserve board and markets go down. State that he will not do that and the markets rise.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentBenefitting from manipulation of the stock markets is illegal. Why is Trump not being prosecuted?Tony Morris, HRMThe threat of ignorance looms largeCanadians wonder why 70 million Americans elected as their president an uninformed, self-serving, bombastic chronic liar who would be laughed off the ballot in any mayoralty election in Canada.As a nation, Americans are intelligent, hard working, resourceful, inventive, resilient and generous. They have the essential qualities for world leadership – except for one. They lack knowledge of the outside world and its impact on their own country. The result is an uninformed “America best / America first / America only” attitude.This myopic perspective is both cause and effect of the “Five Is” that result from America’s geography: isolation, insularity, indifference, ignorance and idolatry.Article contentIsolation: In the 1870s, James Fenimore Cooper wrote that America is the most isolated country in the world. Europeans travelled widely between neighboring countries, spoke other languages and understood other cultures. America’s physical isolation caused cultural isolation. Coastal states had outside contacts through trade, but the negative impact of total isolation compounded in direct proportion to the distance from tidewaterAmerica’s Heartland, located thousands of miles from tidewater, has historically had no knowledge and no interest in issues beyond their state borders. Their education has lacked focus on values-based leadership comparators outside America.Insularity: America’s global leadership began at the Paris Peace Talks in 1919 when Woodrow Wilson led the world’s establishment of the League of Nations. Sadly, Wilson’s world view was not shared at home. The American Senate, reflecting the insular thinking of the American people, rejected the League of Nations.Article contentIndifference: Lack of awareness of external forces that influenced America’s evolution has led to indifference toward other countries, other cultures, world history, global issues and the need for world-wide American leadership. This indifference has led to ignorance.Ignorance: Scrooge’s Second Spirit in Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol of 1848 described a wretched and fearful boy and girl who clung to his robe.“This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that Doom is written.“Pointing toward the City, the Spirit cried ‘Accept it for your selfish purposes and make it worse! And bide the ending!’”Republicans, encouraged by Trump, have “accepted ignorance for their selfish purposes and made it worse.” The world is now “biding the ending.”Article contentIdolatry: Rather than inspiring America’s Heartland by example, allaying their fears and enabling their dreams, Trump has chosen to exploit the rot of the heartland MAGA mindset that has been growing in America since 1776. Trump has celebrated, nurtured and inflamed MAGA’s inbred insularity, feelings of disconnect and anger. He claims to be “one of them,” sharing their feelings of pain and rejection by “tidewater elites.” Notwithstanding Trump’s faults, he has become their champion and, more importantly, their idol.By refusing to correct the uninformed state-based thinking of America’s Heartland and Old South through principled leadership based on integrity, wisdom and compassion, Trump has sacrificed the dignity of the Party of Lincoln for the degeneracy of the Cult of Trump. The next four years may threaten American democracy and the future of Canada.The world view of too many Americans is based on what they are told and what they believe rather than on what they read. In 1880, Mark Twain foresaw this dilemma when he said: “It’s what you know to be true — that ain’t so — that gets you in trouble.”Canada must be vigilant as Trump’s 70 million followers digest his ongoing lies about the world — and Canada — without knowledge to the contrary.Fred Honsberger, HalifaxArticle content
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: Get wise to Trump’s manipulation of markets
