Nervous investors seeking news about the plunge market on Monday afternoon would have been unlucky if they turned to the New York Post, Daily Callenner, One American News, or the Flame website. One of these right-handed outlets did not feature articles on sales when the closing bell rang, solidifying the sharpest decline in Wall Street.
“Pledging to deliver content focused on investment, optimism and the American Dream, Fox Business Network has compensated Elon Musk's social media site X for drops to its site under a story about a temporary suspension.
As President Trump's unpredictable and halting tariff policies rattled investors this week, many of the most loyal supporters in the media and Capitol Hill have either barely mentioned the news or have chosen to frame it as a potentially good thing.
“Profits are still rising. Fox's business host and former Trump advisor Larry Kudrow, former Trump advisor, filmed his show in the Indian Treaty Room in the old executive office building across from the White House on Monday afternoon. “We encourage people to dry out their powder and pay attention to well-thinked economic plans.
During Trump's first term, he regularly pointed out the stock market as a kind of scoreboard for his policy. But in recent weeks he has often refused to dispel worries about slowing down or recession, telling Fox business host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that he “doesn't expect such things,” calling the moment a “transition period.” He added that the US should look to China's long-term planning approach to economics, not Wall Street's quarterly focus. “You can't really see the stock market,” he said.
That new position was quickly reflected by some online influencers.
Jacques Posoviek, who recently traveled to Europe with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses, dismissed the fear and encouraged people to “put the brakes” on financial insecurity with a podcast appearance on Tuesday. Chaya Raichik, a right-wing activist known for Libs on the Tiktok account, posted on Tuesday that Trump's economic status was “exactly what I voted for.” (She didn't mention the decline in the stock market.)
Legislators also participated. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican of Alabama, argued that the cuts were delayed.
“We probably had swelled into the stock market,” he told Kudlow of Fox Business shortly after the market approached Monday. “I don't think President Trump needs to worry about that.”
That comment contrasted with Tuberville's past financial spin-off sentiment. Last August, when stocks suffered a similar day's decline, he took X to condemn President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President Kamala Harris's handling of the economy. “We need steady leadership,” Tuberville said at the time.
For example, when Fox News host John Roberts pointed out on Tuesday that “The Dow is 1,500 points below the time Trump took office,” some conservative outlets expressed concern about the market shock.
“It doesn't look good,” he added.
But the overall response of rights to the stock market shows how much they absorbed the party's line on the administration's agenda, even if it hurts their own pocketbook. And those who notice the decline are bent backwards to hold them accountable elsewhere.
“This is happening because we have the ball that will cancel the globalist economic agenda that has mostly ruined wages and quality of life in America,” said NewsMax host Rob Schmidt, “This is a pain that comes from a real change.”
The Fox News host compared the country to heroin-obsessed people trying to quit Cain.
“Our economy is obsessed with government spending,” Cain said on the show Monday afternoon. “That withdrawal of government spending can send our economy, patients, into a health crisis. But in the end, we have to withdraw to get healthier again.”
Others rose to support Tesla, Musk's electric car company.
“His company and his products are under constant attack as they boldly expose waste, fraud and abuse and are bold to audit the federal government,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said Monday. He did not mention the long-term decline in sales for Tesla in Europe, Australia or California, but he pledged to buy a Model S sedan souped as a “gesture on my part.”
On Tuesday, Trump followed his lead, pledging to buy Tesla as a show of confidence and support for truly great American Elon Musk. He later held a press conference with Musk outside the White House featuring a line of Tesla cars and chose the red model for himself. “When someone is a great patriot, they shouldn't be hurt,” he said.
Not everyone with political rights looked so brave about the market recession.
Stephen Moore, the economic adviser to Trump's first administration, called tariffs “misplaced” over the weekend, adding that “the economy appears to be heading for a recession.”
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, warned the public not to bury his head in the sand. “The market index is the distillation of emotions,” he said. “If the market falls like this in response to tariffs, we can listen.”
But that pushback was largely owned by those trying to downplay the news.
“If you read the morning headline, you'd think the economy – filming, the whole country will go to hell with a hand basket,” Fox business host Dargen McDowell said late Monday. She called the recession the “monarch of horror.”
Ben Shapiro, a conservative who frequently describes economic issues to YouTube's 7.23 million subscribers, set his interests in purely political terms on Tuesday afternoon.
“If President Trump is blamed for a recession, the effects can be disastrous,” he said. “When it comes to the economy these days, the signal is very important.”
