Voters sent President Donald J. Trump back to the White House based on their memories of his first term and the comparison with his troubled successor, President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
There was also the idea that the synthesis of these two experiences, along with the contemplation that comes with four years in exile, would bring Americans a wiser president, which is exactly what we have now.
In his 1990 book, The Disciplined Trader, Mark Douglas teaches that trades are trades. They are not messages from Heaven or reflections on the trader—just data. You can listen to the data or not, but the market is always right. With Trump47, we see the disciplined trader as president.
President George W. Bush knew by December 2003 there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that serious insurgencies were forming on both the Sunni and Shia sides of the Iraqi coin. Yet the U.S. had combat troops there until the end of 2011 for no good reason at all.
For Bush, Iraq was a losing trade that he held onto for dear life—even doubling down with the 2007–2008 surge—for what? In the first week of Trump’s attacks on the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, members of the Iraqi Parliament stood up from their seats clapping and chanting together: “Death to America! Death to America!” It is sad, because we were once so close.
Monday: Disciplined Trader Trump signaled that he was ready to hit the bid on Iran. Friday: the day before he presided over the dignified transfer of the remains of six servicemembers killed in Kuwait by an Iranian drone to their families, Trump said he was all-in.
He posted on Truth Social:
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. ‘MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).’ Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
On Monday, he told reporters his attacks on Iran were a short-term excursion which, having achieved the destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities and the country’s air force, navy, and ruling oligarchy, meant it was time to wrap things up.
Fair enough. Trump was told there would be an uprising, which has yet to appear. He seems to have accepted that.
Trump was told if he did not want to commit U.S. ground forces, the Kurds were ready to march to Tehran. He told the Kurds to stand down, along with the last shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi.
Douglas warned traders that the market does not give you your money back in a losing trade. It is game over.
“Execute your losing trades immediately upon perception that they exist,” he said. Even though it will bruise your ego, pain avoidance—or worse, hope—are not trading strategies. A loss is the cost of doing business.
There are Trump supporters who are taken aback when the president ends the Minneapolis immigration law enforcement operation Arctic Frost, or when he moved Kristi Noem from leading Homeland Security to her new post as the envoy to the Shield of the Americas.
Maybe in Trump45 it would have gone differently. Or maybe, while in exile, Trump gave the impression he would hang on to losing trades. That is not the case, and the country is better for it. Trump47 is the disciplined trader as president. Watch, learn, and appreciate.
Neil W. McCabe is a Washington-based journalist and political commentator who covers politics, defense, and policy.