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Once upon a time, before it was cleaned up and Disney-fied, Times Square was a dirty and slightly menacing place whose tawdry appeal drew mostly tourists, attracted by the grittiness and bright lights. Along with the sex workers, there were con artists on every corner—usually hawking Three Card Monte—which like casinos always favor the house.

I was reminded of those bad old days this past week when the former casino owner and current inhabitant of the White House played an elaborate and dangerous con on world markets and the global economy. The on-again, off-again tariffs on everything from aluminum to automobiles and auto parts to steel, syringes and “foreign”-made pharmaceuticals wreaked havoc on institutional investments and individual retirement accounts—adding to the already growing anxiety and distrust abroad and at home.

Not quite everyone was harmed in equal measure, however. After the Dow lost over 2,000 points in one day and other indices followed suit, the player-in-chief noticed the “yips” and suspended the tariffs for 90 days (except on China whom he subjected to even more onerous levies). But not before telling his social media followers and Congressional supporters to “buy, baby, buy.” (Actually, he said “GREAT TIME TO BUY” in his inimitable way.) And amazingly they did, the markets miraculously rebounded and many, many people made a lot of money. What a stable genius!

Not so fast. In a letter to the chair of the SEC, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) suggested that some card sharkery might be afoot. “It is unclear,” she wrote, “which officials and affiliates of President Trump had advance knowledge of his plans to delay tariffs—but insiders may have known that he was going to announce a tariff pause and that the market would improve.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), addressing the SEC and GAO, found “the timing and scale of the call option purchases” equally suspicious, and “suggested that an official of the Administration, or perhaps the President himself, provided friends or associates with a heads up that the announcement was happening.”

As P.T. Barnum tartly observed, “there’s a sucker born every minute.” And once again, we’ve all been played for chumps in yet another con. We shall see if our system of laws is strong enough to investigate and hold the guilty accountable.

I wouldn’t bet on it.

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Opinion: A Con on Every Corner | The Georgetowner