MSNBC seems to have found their latest outlet for their Trump-bashing fixation in the far-fetched conspiracy theory that the president’s recent tariff impositions were all a setup for insider trading beneficial to him and his close associates. On Thursday’s episode of The 11th Hour, host Stephanie Ruhle fleshed out this idea on the spot, based on the flimsiest of evidence, and refused to drop it even when her own panel tried to bring her down to earth a little.
“Well,” Ruhle began on the subject:
[L]et’s talk about the other thing that Donald Trump… did, for Wall Street this morning…. [H]e puts out a tweet this morning, that says… ‘Buy the market. Stocks are cheap- DJT.’… What happens two, three hours later? He makes the pause announcement, and the market rallies 3,000 points. I’m not accusing anyone of insider trading-
But she went right on to insinuate just that:
But on any Earth that I have lived on, before now, that would warrant some sort of investigation by the SEC, of who knew what when, in the administration, who bought what when?
Ruhle’s only ostensible evidence of wrongdoing was that Trump’s post had preceded the developments on Wall Street, and just a little common sense would have shown that, if the president was actually involved in insider trading, dropping oblique hints on social media would have been a pretty clumsy way to go about it.
Even Ruhle’s panel, made up of guests generally quite hostile to Trump, tried to make her see that it wasn’t that simple. Dan Nathan of CNBC, while asserting that “it seems very likely that that… kind of happened,” did remind her:
A lot of us think that it’s Wall Street traders that are going out there and buying stock… It’s these algorithms that are doing it, right? And it doesn’t take a whole heck of a lot… to… move markets, once you have a material change to the mood that was existing… So… I’m thinking- there might have been people trading off that. There’s a lot of leaks in administrations like that. But at the end of the day… this was coiled spring… [T]he sentiment was so bad and all, it didn’t take a whole heck of a lot to get things going to the upside.
Ruhle was not about to just abandon her theory, though, and persisted:
Could that have been their dry run? Could that have been their test case to say, ‘Well, if we do a pause, what does it do to the market?’ And there we are this morning, in absolute disaster mode, and they say, ‘Oh, we can pull that rabbit out of our hat. We know what the market will do.’
Financial Times contributing editor Brendan Greely had a more nuanced perspective:
But they can’t, because nobody will believe them the next time. You can’t keep jacking tariffs up, if people know that you have a pain point, where you’re going to drop them back down. It won’t work again, not the way it did this time.
Ruhle made no attempt to answer the challenges to her new excuse to attack the administration, and vaguely concluded that “This thing is going to remain complicated.”
To view the full transcript, click “expand” to read:
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
11:32 PM
04/09/2025[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: TRUMP HITS PAUSE ON TARIFFS FOR 90 DAYS]
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Well, let’s talk about the other thing that Donald Trump- I don’t know- I’m going to say- did, for Wall Street this morning. On Twitter- he puts out a tweet this morning, that says, ‘Buy’- you know- ‘Buy the market. Stocks are cheap- DJT.’
PHILIP BUMP, THE WASHINGTON POST: That was a good time.
RUHLE: Right? What happens two, three hours later? He makes the pause announcement, and the market rallies 3,000 points.
I’m not accusing anyone of insider trading-
BUMP: Right-
RUHLE: -But on any Earth that I have lived on, before now, that would warrant some sort of investigation by the SEC, of who knew what when, in the administration, who bought what when?
Given who’s in this administration, given who’s running the SEC, it’s unlikely to happen, but come on now-
DAN NATHAN, CNBC: Wait, wait. The SEC that was put under control of the White House? I mean- like- this is- you know- the grift has gone on and on. We saw it- you know-
RUHLE: But Dan, this one’s a crazy one.
NATHAN: Well, it is. I mean- but- you know- like-
Listen, I- I just bumped into a guy at dinner, okay? And he’s a prominent hedge fund manager, and the guy has been on the street for decades, and he’s been very successful, and he doesn’t want to speak out. He- I mean- there is fear of retribution-
RUHLE: Of course there is.
NATHAN: -Among these folks. And that’s why we’re all being really careful. And if you say, ‘No, you’ one more time, I’m going to give you a wedgie. All right?
Like- so- you know- you know- my point is- is like- there’s a lot of that out there. So- you know- We’re not going to make those sorts of accusations against folks. And it seems very likely that that- you know- kind of happened, but it-
One thing is really important, you know- A lot of us think that it’s Wall Street traders that are going out there and buying stock and-
RUHLE: No.
NATHAN Buying calls. It’s these algorithms that are doing it, right? And it doesn’t take. A whole heck of a lot- you know- to- kind of- move markets, once you have a- a material change to the mood that was existing, and- real news, or- so-
So- you know- I’m thinking- there might have been people trading off that. There’s a lot of leaks in administrations like that. But at the end of the day- you know- this was coiled spring, as you think about the market- the sentiment was so bad, and, all- It didn’t take a whole heck of a lot to get things going to the upside.
RUHLE: Now-
BUMP: We saw that, with that Bessent situation couple of days ago-
NATHAN: Yeah. Yep.
BUMP: -when it was like- the rumor that there was going to be a pause and this- market shot up and back-
RUHLE: Okay, but did you ever start to wonder- hold on a second-
BUMP: Sure.
RUHLE: So, this- supposedly- you know- fake tweet goes out two days ago, that says, ‘Oh, we’re going to have a 90 day pause.’ And then, quickly, the White House says, ‘No, no, no, that’s not true.’
I don’t know, is there any credence to- Could that have been their dry run? Could that have been their test case to say, ‘Well, if we do a pause, what does it do to the market?’ And there we are this morning, in absolute disaster mode, and they say, ‘Oh, we can pull that rabbit out of our hat. We know what the market will do.’
BRENDAN GREELEY, FINANCIAL TIMES: But they can’t, because nobody will believe them the next time. You- you can’t keep jacking tariffs up, if people know that you have a pain point, where you’re going to drop them back down. It won’t work again, not the way it did this time.
ALLAN SMITH, NBC: So, the thing is- I think that- there’s many people on Wall Street who never thought these tariffs would actually be imposed.
RUHLE: Correct.
SMITH: -And the market would have gone down significantly further, if there was a lot more buying that this was really going to happen. Right?
Like- the markets took a terrible dive. But it would have been a lot worse, if a lot of people on Wall Street had thought, ‘You know, actually, this is seriously going to happen.’
And right up until today, there were a ton of people who, clearly, based on how trading was going, were still thinking, ‘This isn’t actually going to happen.’ Even after- today was the day when they were getting imposed- even after that point, ‘Nope-’
RUHLE: Well, guess what-
SMITH: So they could be pulled back.
RUHLE: They’re still there for quite a few countries. We didn’t even get to talk about China- and I’m not saying China is a friend- but this thing is going to remain complicated.
