"C.E.O.s Say They're Confident, but Merger Numbers Don't Lie" was the headline on Andrew Ross Sorkin's June 12 New York Times column blaming President Trump for a lack of corporate deals. Mr. Sorkin wrote:
If you can't remember reading about a big deal announced recently, that's because there hasn't been one. The reality is that since Mr. Trump was elected, mergers have fallen off a cliff.
The numbers tell the story: So far this year, the number of deals and their size are at the lowest level since 2013....
Yes, the prospect of an early morning Twitter tirade from Mr. Trump may be holding back deal making. And that's not confidence inducing.
Funny, just a few days later Amazon announced it would buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The New York Times published a shopping cart full of stories about the deal exploring just about every possible angle, but I sure haven't seen any sentences or columns crediting Mr. Trump or his administration for the deal. (Likewise with the recently announced deal by PerkinElmer to buy Euroimmun Medical Laboratory Diagnostics AG for $1.3 billion.) It's a double standard. Deals don't happen, and Mr. Trump gets blamed. Deals do happen, and Mr. Trump doesn't get any credit, at least from the Times.