Trump is attempting to gaslight Americans on the market crash he created

Yes, presidents shape public opinion all the time. They campaign for support, rally voters, sell initiatives, and frame events to their advantage. But nothing compares to what Trump and his administration have tried to do — and are still doing — with tariffs and their economic consequences. (Even the January 6th attack on the Capitol was different because not all Americans could see every angle or answer every question in real time.)

On Monday morning, Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro appeared on CNBC. As the anchor ran down investor fears and warnings from leading analysts about a potential recession, Navarro smiled. Despite one of the worst stretches for the stock market since 1987, Navarro insisted it was actually “a beautiful situation.”

In the corner of the screen, CNBC showed the markets poised to open down 900 points. If the trend held, it would mark the worst three-day market tumble since the Black Monday crash of ‘87.

But Navarro was simply channeling his boss. When a reporter asked Trump Sunday night on Air Force One if there was a point at which market pain would become unacceptable, the president snapped: “I think your question is so stupid.”

Since the tariffs took effect, the administration — along with many conservative media allies — has engaged in a kind of collective cognitive dissonance. They’ve suggested, even if implicitly, that even if people are losing money (and they leave it as a big “if”), it’s not really a big deal. They want you to believe it doesn’t matter — or that it’s not even happening.

But it is happening. And for many Americans, it matters a great deal.

On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — reportedly worth as much as $500 million — went on NBC’s Meet the Press and told Americans they were just overreacting.

“I think that’s a false narrative,” he said. “Americans who want to retire right now, the Americans who put away for years in their savings accounts, I think they don’t look at the day-to-day fluctuations.”

But here’s the thing: They do look. Especially when those fluctuations become historic crashes. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make it true.

Of course, presidential gaslighting isn’t new. James Buchanan tried to persuade Americans that their deepening divisions weren’t really a crisis — as the country edged toward Civil War. Lyndon B. Johnson exaggerated the Gulf of Tonkin incident to escalate US involvement in Vietnam. Richard Nixon downplayed Watergate. George W. Bush led the country into Iraq based on false intelligence about weapons of mass destruction.

But in each of those cases, many Americans didn’t have access to the full truth. They weren’t in the situation room. They weren’t reading the classified briefings.

This moment is different. The numbers are right in front of us. They’re not abstract. They’re instantly available on our phones, our laptops, our televisions. There’s little utility in trying to convince someone that what they’re seeing — a red screen, a tumbling market, their 401(k) balance tanking — is somehow something else.

Yet that’s exactly what the Trump administration continues to attempt. They’re not just spinning; they’re telling Americans to ignore what they can see with their own eyes.

The only modern parallel that comes close is Trump’s initial handling of COVID-19, when he insisted it would “just disappear” even as hospitals filled and the death toll mounted.

He lost reelection in part because of that catastrophic misjudgment.

Then again, Trump would tell you he never lost at all.

James Pindell is a Globe political reporter who reports and analyzes American politics, especially in New England.