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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on Air Force One during the flight from Palm Beach to Miami on Saturday.
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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on Air Force One during the flight from Palm Beach to Miami on Saturday. (Mandel Ngan - AFP / Getty Images)

Trump's Buy Now 'Insider Trading' Fake News Compared to Years of Lawmakers' Real Insider Trading

 By C. Douglas Golden  April 14, 2025 at 5:25am
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The Democrats are suddenly concerned about “insider trading” by an elected public figure.

Not a surprise: It’s not Nancy Pelosi. Also not a surprise: It’s not actual insider trading, either.

Instead, what they’re pretending to be concerned about is a piece of commonsense advice from President Donald Trump on the same day he announced a pause in the tariffs between the United States and every nation but China.

“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday.

This would have been true if he was or wasn’t pausing the tariffs, it’s worth noting. It’s the simplest piece of market advice you could possibly give: Buy the dip, sell the rise. Furthermore, this looks nothing like the insider trading we’re used to — i.e., you or your close relations profiting off of information not in the public sphere.

In fact, it’s just the opposite: Trump making no money off of advice that turned out to be reasonable. If this is the case, pretty much any intention of a president to announce a major economic policy counts, as well; the Democrats should be investigating the “Liberation Day” tariffs, too, since he gave advance notice of those, and short-sellers would easily benefit from them.

However, desperate to nail the president on something, the Democrats went on the attack. (Or, as the media might say if they were Republicans, they “pounced.”)

For instance, Sen. Adam Schiff — a California Democrat who, once upon a time, got all huffy about the fact that there were some consequences to be felt for flogging a Trump-Russia hoax he knew darn well was illegitimate — said that Congress should investigate Trump for insider trading or market manipulation.

Do you think Trump did anything illegal by telling the entire world to invest?

“Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves. I hope to find out soon,” Schiff told Time, adding, “I’m going to do my best to find out.”

Schiff was the first senator to call for it, but Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (rather predictably) wasn’t far behind, giving this speech from the Senate floor.

Nor was she the only one:

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Then there was the media, which peppered their stories with vague accusations and pull quotes from academia members insisting Trump had done something wrong, if only they could agree upon what it was. CNBC: “Trump’s ‘buy’ call nets huge returns for those who listened.” The Associated Press: “Trump’s ‘buy’ tip on social media before tariffs pause made money for investors.” Also the AP: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bought stocks hit hard by Trump tariffs during the market meltdown.”

So, they’ve found two Republicans — Trump and MTG — one of whom put out some commonsense advice, the other who followed it. Great job discovering them. Now, try these:

These are but two of the graphs assembled by Unusual Whales, a social media account which has taken notice, for some time now, of how politicians of both parties seem to pull off the relatively difficult task of nearly constantly beating the S&P 500.

The more powerful the politician, the better they seem to do. Take the former speaker of the house and her husband, who just so happens to be an options trader whose acumen puts Warren Buffet to shame. From a 2024 year-end report on Unusual Whales’ website:

Widely regarded as a skilled options trader, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has garnered an almost cult-like following for her financial disclosures. The true genius behind her trades is her husband, Paul Pelosi.

Pelosi buys deep in the money in tech companies, after they undergo a large drop. Her disclosed trades focus on mega cap companies. Her family has an astounding track record when it comes to tech LEAPs.

Her $PANW calls are up 93 percent at the moment, while her $AVGO calls are up 97 percent. Her $NVDA contracts finished up 273 percent, which she likely exercised, causing her to be up nearly 170 percent on those Nvidia shares.

I’d love it if the former speaker told me what stock Paul Pelosi is buying next. Mysteriously, though, she doesn’t put that kind of stuff on social media, instead putting out digital clutter like this:

Well, thankfully, we have the Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker account. (Seriously. It’s a thing.)

Congress has never seriously discussed a ban on trading stocks, however; whatever discussions about it have been undertaken weren’t done with any eye toward advancing legislation that would stop members of both parties from profiting from inside information, which they’ve done so consistently that it’s become a bromide that, if you can’t get rich from insider info in Congress, you’re not really trying.

Instead, we have a situation where the former speaker of the House sees a 70.9 percent return on her investment in a year when the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust was up by 24.9 percent, and she wasn’t even the biggest profit-maker by percentage. (That would be GOP Rep. David Rouzer of North Carolina at 149 percent, followed by former DNC head Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida at 142.3 percent.)

Yet, these are mostly the same lawmakers who are trying to hit Trump with an insider trading charge for doing the opposite of what they’re doing. Not only is it like James Comey desperately trying to push the Trump-Russia narrative long after his firing, but it’s worse, in that they’re ignoring actual insider trading going on right under their noses. They want the media to hit the president without actually touching them for doing worse.

What’s amazing, too, is that they’re hitting him for giving everyday Americans advice they could use. How dare you?, we can almost hear Paul and Nancy Pelosi screaming from their San Francisco enclave. That’s only for us! Step back, rabblement!

What loathsome little people these are.

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C. Douglas Golden
Contributor, Commentary
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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