A problem unlike any Donald Trump has dealt with

There are two numbers that Donald Trump has regularly appreciated and enjoyed like a hawk. And, in his mind, they are inextricably connected.

The very first is his approval scores. Nothing uncommon because. Ever since the end of World War Two and Gallup introducing its routine polling on this, every president from Harry Truman onwards has kept a careful eye on how they are being seen by the excellent American public – that is typical.

The second figure is the stock market. While other presidents have seen that as a barometer to keep a watch on, no-one has obsessed about Wall Street like Donald Trump. Or if they have, they haven’t provided a running commentary in rather the very same way that he has.

His computation is that if the stock exchange is skyrocketing, then his approval rankings will increase and QED – he will be re-elected in November this year. Even when the stock market has the wind in its sails, the president will breathe in deeply and blow forcefully in the hope of pushing the Dow even higher. And every time the Dow Jones or the S&P 500 hits a brand-new high, he tweets to celebrate it. 280 times to be specific. In other words, approximately as soon as every four days of his presidency he has exalted the markets.

But with the arrival of the coronavirus, the marketplaces have taken fright – and have been plunging vertiginously over the previous number of weeks. On Monday, the steepness of the decrease was such that it triggered a circuit-breaker alarm on Wall Street. It fell by more than 7%, therefore trading was suspended for 15 minutes to give traders a breath to take stock. They breathed. They took stock. And after 15 minutes the markets continued their plunge.