There was little rest on Wall Street this weekend. There was plenty of anger, anxiety, frustration, and fear.It's true that Trump seems unreachable. The Washington Post reported this on Friday:
Anger at President Trump for a brash and chaotic rollout of tariffs that erased trillions of dollars in value from the stock market in two days. Anxiety about the state of the private equity industry and other colossal funds with global investments. Frustration among Wall Street’s elite at their sudden inability to influence the president and his advisers.
Inside and outside the White House, advisers say Trump is unbowed even as the world reels from the biggest increase in trade hostilities in a century. They say Trump is unperturbed by negative headlines or criticism from foreign leaders. He is determined to listen to a single voice — his own — to secure what he views as his political legacy....Wall Streeters are accustomed to having access to presidents and wielding a great deal of influence, as the Times notes:
“He’s at the peak of just not giving a f--- anymore,” said a White House official with knowledge of Trump’s thinking. “Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f---. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.”
For generations, Wall Street enjoyed a role advising the leaders of both major political parties, and there was hope that the appointment of Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager and onetime Democrat, as Mr. Trump’s Treasury secretary, meant the industry had a friend near the Oval Office.But they can do more than "gripe publicly." They can still wield influence, because there are people in the government other than the president and his subordinates, although you'd never know it from the way America has been run since Inauguration Day.
Mr. Bessent, however, has shrugged off the tumult. “The market consistently underestimates Donald Trump,” he said on the NBC program “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
That has left even some of Mr. Trump’s bigger Wall Street defenders with little to do but gripe publicly.
Why aren't Wall Streeters putting pressure on Congress? Republicans have tiny margins in both the House and the Senate. Congress could seriously challenge Trump on tariffs if it wanted to. All it would take would be a handful of Republicans plus every Democrat, or nearly every Democrat. (By the way, even John Fetterman is critical of the tariffs.)
I don't know if we'll have real elections in 2026 or 2028, but most people in Washington think we will. Elections cost money. Political parties and individual members of Congress spend massive amounts of time raising money for future election cycles, much of it from people like ... Wall Street billionaires.
These billionaires should be telling the GOP: We're cutting you off without a cent unless you impeach the motherfucker and remove him from office, or at least start the process and get him to back down on these tariffs. No money for individual candidates. No money for party campaign committees. No money for Republican-aligned PACs.
They could start by focusing pressure on candidates in swing districts, for whom breaking with Trump might actually be electorally advantageous. Oh, and they should also tell congressional Democrats to grow a spine and unify around the idea of impeachment if the tariffs persist.
The pressure shouldn't just come from Wall Street. The muckamucks in every affected industry should cut off the congressional GOP, or threaten to. They need to scare the bejeezus out of Mike Johnson and John Thune.
Last week, Congressman Al Green promised to present articles of impeachment against Trump within thirty days. I'm sure his impeachment articles will resonate with liberals and progressives. I'm sure I'll agree with every word. But I know that he's perceived as the crazy old coot who brandished a walking stick during a presidential address. He might not be the best face for this effort.
I think Green should proceed, but there should also be an impeachment bill that's moderate-friendly. Maybe it should just be about Trump's illegal usurpation of Congress's tariff power.
In any case, I think Democrats should go all in on impeachment. As 401(k)s crater and economic uncertainty worsens, this will start to seem like a good idea even to Middle American moderates.
If enough people talk about impeachment, it will become thinkable. It's the right moment to start this conversation.