What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to blame his economic record on his likely impeachment.

U.S. stock markets have plummeted over the last two trading days, after a key measure of domestic factory activity fell to ten-year lows. Job figures are also continuing to falter: projected September numbers released today were well below the threshold needed to keep up with population growth, and August's middling figures were revised sharply downward.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones have been flat since January of 2018. In spite of his claims to the contrary, overall economic growth under Trump has been fairly lackluster. Economists think that Trump's trade war accounts for most of that missed potential. In a grim but ironic turn of events, his tariffs on foreign steel—meant to protect the domestic steel industry—cost 376 American steelworkers their jobs this week as a Louisiana mill shut down because it could not afford the recycled imported steel it used as a raw material.

Today, Trump blamed the impeachment inquiry for the market losses. (Yesterday, he blamed the Federal Reserve.)

Why should I care about this?

• It's bad if the president can't or won't take responsibility for things that happen on his watch.