- United States
- Mont.
- Letter
You need to investigate the stock trading activity disclosed in President Trump's Q1 government filing — over 3,500 trades in a single quarter, averaging 60 per day, with million-dollar-plus purchases in Nvidia, Oracle, Microsoft, and Boeing. Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics counsel under George W. Bush, put it plainly: "We've never seen a president trading actively in the stock market before." Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers called the volume "essentially impossible" without being plugged into markets full time, noting it resembles algorithmic trading.
Every modern president before Trump used blind trusts, mutual funds, or Treasury bonds precisely to avoid this kind of conflict. Jimmy Carter sold his personal stock holdings the moment he took office. The concern here isn't abstract — when a president can move markets with a single post or policy announcement, trading at this scale creates a direct financial incentive to govern for a portfolio rather than the public. RSM chief economist Joseph Brusuelas has already warned that public trust is eroding, with people increasingly believing financial markets are fixed. That perception hardens into reality if Congress does nothing. Hold hearings. Demand accountability.