U.S. President Donald Trump holds a news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 16, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)
By Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- While the U.S. media continues to pound Donald Trump in a tit-for-tat war with the new president, markets are surging on his vows to cut taxes and roll back the massive regulation that was a hallmark of the previous administration.
Trump shocked the world in November after beating rival Hillary Clinton and clinching the White House after the vast majority of pundits, polls and experts predicted he would lose the elections.
Since then Trump has gone from a war with Clinton to an all-out war with the U.S. press, which has published a non-stop barrage of stories on Trump, many of them negative, over the past weeks. The amount of news coverage is unprecedented in recent memory for any new U.S. president in this very early stage of a new administration.
For his part, Trump reiterated in recent days his disgust with what he bills as a mainstream U.S. media that makes a habit of publishing "fake news."
In a speech on Friday, the brash billionaire-turned president called what he labeled the "fake news" media as "an enemy of the people."
But while the U.S. media may dislike the new president, markets are reacting very positively, and are experiencing a surge not seen in the first 30 days of a president since 1945.
"If you look at the markets, and you shut out the European media and the (U.S.) mainstream media, the markets are the best indicator" of how Trump is doing so far, Republican Strategist Ford O'Connell told Xinhua.
Critics say the U.S. media has been undergoing a post-election hysteria, almost hyperventilating over Trump. Many media outlets -- quite unreasonably, Trump supporters say -- believe the brash businessman is unfit to lead the world's largest economy.
"If he was really out of his mind, (the markets) would be all over the place, because they don't like uncertainty," O'Connell said.
"The markets seem to be thinking that this guy's got the right idea," he added.
Financial pundits echo those thoughts, contending that anyone who frets over the impact of the new administration should only look to the markets, which have been upbeat on Trump's promises to roll back the tsunami of regulations implemented by former President Barack Obama.
Some economists said those regulations are one major factor that has kept the U.S economy from a growth surge.
The S&P 500 has increased at a clip of over 10 percent since Trump's election, and experts note the stock market overall has seen one of the fastest upward movements ever for a new president.
There's been a surge in investment, and funds centered on U.S. stocks have seen an influx of over 50 billion U.S. dollars just in 2017, financial news TV station CNBC noted.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently told CNBC there is "a lot of confidence in the Trump administration and in the desire to invest in the U.S."
The treasury secretary added that the stock market's reaction is a sign of optimism that Trump will make good on his vow to boost the economy, which was one of the main reasons supporters cast their ballots for him on Election Day.
Since the 2007-2008 economic nose dive, the U.S. economy has made only a sluggish comeback, and pockets of the United States continue to struggle to make ends meet.
While the official unemployment rate hovers around 5 percent, that number masks the harsh reality that millions of Americans have given up looking for work out of sheer frustration with dim job prospects, especially in the country's rural areas.
The U.S. jobless rate also does not differentiate between high-quality and low-quality jobs, and economists say many of the jobs created in recent years are low quality and low pay.
While slashing taxes and the Obama administration's forest of red tape are a major part of Trump's agenda, that will take a few months to implement, experts noted.
