The GameStop Saga and the Incoherent Politics of the Stock Market Republicans have long encouraged stock ownership in the belief that it will turn Americans conservative, but does the evidence bear that out? Spencer Platt/Getty Images The recent furor regarding speculation in the stock of GameStop—which soared far beyond its fundamental value, due to a technique known as a short squeeze—has focused attention on the nature of the stock market and what it means both politically and economically. CNN’s Chris Cillizza sees the bipartisan hostility toward hedge funds—so far, the big losers in the GameStop imbroglio—as a manifestation of Trumpian populism. But critics of market manipulation, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, see it as another reason to ramp up government regulation.