Stephen Miller. Mark Teixeira. Market Whiplash.

Random #92

Stephen Miller. Mark Teixeira. Market Whiplash.

Miller to chief of staff

As anticipated, the exodus from the administration has begun. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon is resigning as head of the “Justice” Department’s Civil Rights Division, saying she was asked by White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to delay her departure until after the election. Ironically, Wiles followed her out the door the next day and is being replaced by Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff. This is an interesting pick by the president, since Miller has been a lightning rod in the administration. He has been at the forefront of the president’s immigration policy and is an uncompromising Trump loyalist. Despite the president’s words that he will work with the democrats now that they control Congress, Miller’s elevation to chief of staff suggests the opposite. Miller has been with the president since 2016 and is considered the architect of the president’s immigration policies, including ICE enforcement, the Muslim-majority country travel bans, a wall on the southern border and deep cuts to refugee admissions. Steve Bannon, one of the architects of MAGA, crowed, “Miller is a hammer – and we need a hammer now.” Mike Lee (R-UT) said Miller had been “a staunch defender of law and order against illegal invasions and leftist lawlessness.” Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said, “Our country is at a pivotal point and Stephen Miller understands exactly what is at stake.”

Naturally, the left is beside itself. Here are some of the nicest quotes. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said, “For Trump to promote this hatemonger shows he has learned nothing.” Chuck Schumer, reading from the same playbook, said Trump “learned nothing from his historic defeat and couldn’t have made a worse choice” in elevating Miller. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said Miller is “a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands.” Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) called Trump’s decision “another kick in the teeth to the American people” and “a sign of Trump’s contempt for the voters.” Gavin Newsom, the outgoing California governor, said Miller was “one of the most vile thugs to ever slither into the Oval Office” and called the move “an insult to every American who voted for change.” So buckle up. It’s going to be an interesting two more years – maybe as interesting as the last two.

Breaking news: Trump names UFC’s Dana White press secretary? Dana White? Trump posted: “I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States.”  Violent fighter? Boy I bet the press corps will not ask him any tough questions! BTW, has Trump replaced every woman with a man? Just asking.

Teixeira to Congress

Mark Teixeira, a very good baseball player, won a congressional seat in Texas as a republican!Teixeira played college baseball at Georgia Tech, where he was national collegiate player of the year (I’ll forgive him for playing at Tech). He began his major league career with the Texas Rangers and went on to play for the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels before ending his career with the New York Yankees. He was one of the best switch hitters in baseball, finishing with 409 home runs. Injuries probably kept him out of Hall of Fame consideration. He is replacing firebrand Chip Roy, who gave up his House seat to run for Texas attorney general and lost the republican runoff. As one of my readers put it: “We need more baseball players in Congress! Hopefully the union and owners will come to an agreement so we don’t miss any baseball next year. I think the owners should push for much more painful luxury taxes instead of an outright cap, and set a salary floor for each team in return for the players. Seems like a good quid pro quo.” I think that is a great suggestion, and I will pass it on to my granddaughter, who works at Major League Baseball in New York. Probably the greatest baseball player to serve in Congress was Jim Bunning, who represented Kentucky in both the House and the Senate and is in the Hall of Fame.

Market whiplash

What’s with the markets? The day after the election, the markets soared, with the Dow gaining nearly 1,600 points while the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 climbed 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively. Investopedia said: “With its strong majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the party is likely to challenge the Trump administration’s tariff policies and take steps to end the Iran war, which could help tame inflation. The Democrats likely will seek to reverse cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, and to slow Trump’s efforts to rescind regulations. The prospect for big policy changes had a widespread and varied impact on U.S. stocks today.” Normally I like Investopedia, but that last sentence is wrong. Do they really expect that the democrats will force policy changes on the president? Well, his naming Miller as chief of staff belies that notion.

Then, two days after the election, the markets crashed. Oops! Analysts tied the selloff to fears that a democratic Congress would slow the AI boom that had been driving the markets. The Dow closed down more than 1,800 points, and the S&P 500 had its worst day in more than 18 months. “This is a true panic,” said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors, noting the U.S. faces “a potential regime shift” and a “slowdown in the data center build-out.” After the smoke cleared, the rout had erased about $3 trillion from the S&P 500 and handed the Nasdaq 100 its worst day since the 2020 pandemic.

The president, of course, blamed the “Dumocrats” and posted:

I want to know how finance professors are going to lecture students with a straight face on “market efficiency.”