A Dark & Stormy

A Dark and Stormy is a form of cocktail using dark rum and ginger beer.  I'm not a fan but I have a brother-in-law who will drink one occasionally.  He thinks they're great.  The adult movie star Stormy Daniels may become a darker threat to the Trump Administration as the weeks pass. I'm assuming that all of you are familiar with Daniels' claim of an affair with the President and the alleged hush money she was paid in order to keep quiet about it.  If this is the first you've heard of this then either you've been off the planet, don't pay attention to the news or aren't connected to the internet.  I'm not interested in the politics of this but I do want to point out the potential impact this could have on stocks should this blow up into a larger political scandal.

I don't right now see too many speculating on what happens if Miss Daniels is able to go out and tell her story unfettered of any potential hush agreement.  We don't know what details she might reveal or what proof she might have of an alleged affair.  We do know that many of the President's enemies are working as hard as possible to see that she gets heard and she has taped an interview with "60 Minutes".  She has also supposedly offered to give the alleged "hush money" back in an effort to go public with what she knows.  None of this will likely be flattering to the President if the story unfolds.

The last time we had issues of a President having an affair we almost had a President impeached.  It is hard to measure how this might damage President Trump or the Republicans going into the fall elections but markets don't like political scandals and are even more leery of these if they morph into a constitutional crisis.  Last week in a column I mentioned that the President's mounting personal problems could take a political toll that starts to impact stocks.  So far this does not seem to be the case but the crescendo behind Miss Daniels is only growing.  Something to keep an eye out for if these storm clouds become more intense.

And if you want a recipe for a Dark & Stormy click here!

PS.  Don't underestimate the impact this could have on the President's political capital.  Many Trump supporters are folks with views on morality are polar opposites of the President's.  So far they've overlooked his personal life as his vision for America aligns with what they'd like to see.  It's not hard to imagine some of that support eroding if we are treated to a more graphic spectacle of the President's private life, especially if a wounded President starts leaning away from some of his promises to "red state" America in order to survive in office. Stay tuned.