With the Democratic National Convention behind us and the Republican National Convention set to nominate Donald Trump for the Presidential Election in November, Wall Street has all but given up on monitoring corporate earnings and its entire focus is now on who will be the next President of the United States.
Every four years, the people of America wonder, why is the country so polarized? It happened in 1992 when Bill Clinton came on stage to usurp a sitting one time President – George H.W. Bush, but not without the help of a funny, but eccentric Ross Perot as a third party candidate. It happened again, when Barack Obama, defying all odds, ignited parts of the electorate who had never been given a fair shake. And now, we are at juncture in time, when the incumbent President has rewritten all the rules and exposed his mental ill health daily on Twitter to the point where a “malignant buffoon” is no longer an oxymoron.
But, Wall Street did not always care about who will be next President but instead, has been more responsive to his or her policies. But this time, it could be different.
Future Wealth’s View
Moments after becoming president on Aug. 9, 1974, Gerald Ford said, “Our long national nightmare is over.” In many ways, to bring back tranquility into the world, we have to get past the nightmare of the past four years. In life’s unforgiving arithmetic, we are the sum of our choices. And, the fact remains that, we, the people of America made a bad choice four years ago.
But, if there is a bright spot in Donald Trump’s behavior, it is his ability to surprise and swipe in a way that has never been done before. And so, expect a “Trojan Horse” to arrive between now and November 2, that could tilt and throw the whole election into disarray. It has been done before and it could happen again.
What should investors do between now and then? Do what the pandemic has forced us all to do – be safe with our lives – and now, to add to that, our investments.