Trump announced he won't sign a housing bill that Congress passed with bipartisan support in June. The bill becomes law anyway. He found the one legislative maneuver that combines maximum effort with zero impact.
This is called a pocket veto in reverse. Or maybe it's just called losing. The Constitution says if the president doesn't sign a bill within ten days while Congress is in session, it becomes law automatically. Trump read that part and decided to tell everyone about his plan to not do something that wouldn't matter if he did it.
The bill aims to address housing costs and rein in institutional investors. You know, those firms that bought every starter home in Phoenix and turned them into rental properties with mandatory $200 monthly pet fees. Now Trump gets to claim he opposed helping first-time buyers while the law passes without his signature. Political genius.
Congress achieved bipartisan support on a housing bill. That alone should terrify you. When both parties agree on something related to real estate and institutional investors, retail traders should check their portfolios for new ways they're about to get f*cked. The bill probably includes a provision requiring you to disclose your Robinhood balance before touring an open house.
Trump's strategy here rivals buying puts after a stock already dropped forty percent. He's fighting a battle that ended before he showed up, declaring victory to nobody, then wondering why the law still passed. Congress handed him a pen and he threw it at the wall.
The housing market needed reform. Congress passed reform. Trump said no. The reform happens anyway. Somewhere a retail trader just put twenty percent down on a condo and thinks this news cycle affects his adjustable-rate mortgage.
Photo by Gautam Krishnan on Unsplash
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