On "Forbes Newsroom," Spencer Hakimian, founder and chief investment officer of hedge fund Tolou Capital Management, spoke about President Trump trying to blame former President Biden over recent economic reports.
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00:01Before I let you go, I want to ask you about the market and specifically what it's been doing recently and also whether President Trump's comments about this is the Biden stock market, if that holds any water.
00:13What do you think about the movements of the market and whether or not we can assign credit or blame to any one president?
00:23Look, Maggie, I'm not a Republican. I'm also not a Democrat myself. I make that pretty clear.
00:31And just to prove that I'm not a partisan, I thought, quite frankly, it was a little pathetic in 2022 when President Biden blamed the runaway in inflation on the previous administration.
00:43So just like it was pathetic to me in 2022 and 2025, it is pathetic to me when the president wants to say that when the stock market falls, it's Biden's fault.
00:54And when the stock market rises, conveniently, it's back to his credit.
00:56With that being said, there's only so much that a president can in normal times affect the stock market because thankfully we have a system of checks and balances.
01:12We don't have a king. We have a temporary president, an elected official.
01:16We have three separate branches of our government. Right.
01:20So there's only so much that a president can affect.
01:23Let's say if President Biden in the past had a good or a bad idea.
01:28Well, that was still contingent on the House and the Senate approving it.
01:32And that was also contingent on, you know, the judicial branch to render that legal.
01:40So but what's going on here with tariffs is clearly a unilateral action.
01:46The Senate Republicans had a chance last night to vote down President Trump's unilateral tariff power, and they chose not to.
01:55So. So just just as a matter of just let's be real with each other, this really is one person's doing.
02:07And again, look, what I keep saying is, even if this does not lead to catastrophe, what good is coming out of it?
02:18Right. People were really happy that the market was flat in April.
02:22We're happy about that. I mean, that's something to cheer for.
02:26Right. Like we've we've lowered our standards so much that not losing five percent of our asset prices a month is something to be happy about.
02:35Now, asset prices are supposed to go up. We take tremendous risk to own assets.
02:39Right. Why would we expect them to go up in price?
02:44People are cheering that it was flat last month.
02:47I mean, give me a little bit of a break on that. And that's just my general takeaway on that.
02:54I think that is a fair takeaway. And as always, Spencer, we so appreciate your thoughts and analyses on the markets, on the economy and what the administration is doing to kind of navigate.
03:05Both. I'll have to let you go for now, but we will have you back as this quarter continues and as we continue to get economic data that that affects the markets.
03:14But in the meantime, Spencer Hakimian, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.