Veteran Democratic strategist David Axelrod said President Trump claiming credit for rallying the stock market after sending it into chaos for several days with his shifting tariff policies is an example of the president's branding tactics that have elevated him through the years as a businessman.
"I mean, he created the crisis and then tried to take credit for the rally at the end of the day," Axelrod said during a Wednesday night appearance on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."
"He believes that you can sell your own narrative."
Trump abruptly paused his sweeping tariffs on imports from most countries Wednesday — a week after he announced his plan and the day they went into effect. The news immediately rallied investors and put markets on a clear positive path for the first time since the president unveiled the hefty tariff strategy during a Rose Garden ceremony.
Trump celebrated the stock market swing following news of his 90-day pause, which he announced online in a post on the Truth Social platform.
"I guess they say it was the biggest day in financial history," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. "Nobody’s ever heard of it. It’s going to be a record.”
Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also said people, including the White House press corps, had underestimated the president's negotiating prowess.
"Many of you in the media clearly missed the art of the deal. You clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here," she said. "You tried to say the rest of the world would be moved closer to China, when in fact, we’ve seen the opposite effect."
Axelrod, a chief political analyst at CNN and podcast host, compared the scenario to a quote often attributed to former President Lincoln about hypocrisy.
"Reminded me of that story Lincoln used to tell about the kid who murdered his parents and then went to court and pleaded for mercy because he was an orphan," he said.
But he said it is part of the image that Trump, who hosted the reality TV show "The Apprentice" for 14 years before shifting to politics, has crafted.
"Donald Trump is not a great businessman, but he is a brilliant, historically talented brander and marketer," Axelrod said. "And he markets the truth as he wants it to be seen, but sometimes the facts don't cooperate."
Axelrod reflected back on his time in the Obama administration and concerns about the impact comments from the White House could have.
"When I was in the White House, the thing that I learned very, very quickly was that the words I spoke just as an aide to the president, much less the words the president spoke, could, you know — you had to be very careful, because you could send armies marching and markets crashing," he said. "And we've seen this in spectacular fashion in the last couple of days."