Donald Trump continues to shatter the neoliberalneoconservativeThinkProgressHeritageFoundationElizabethWarrenJimInhofe consensus:

In possibly related news, The Wall Street Journal reports today, “Penalties levied against firms and individuals by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in the first half of 2017 were down nearly two-thirds compared with the first half of 2016—putting regulators on track for the lowest annual level of fines since at least 2010.”

And it is true, as President Trump now boasts on a near-daily basis, that the stock market is performing well. Weak regulations are one way to help produce higher stock values. In the short run.