Back in March, Congressman Tony Weid bought $175,000 worth of Block stock (almost no one else covered it, but we did). And while we usually raise an eyebrow at politician trades that look like they’ve been blessed by insider info, this one doesn’t scream corruption. It actually screams bad research. Either Tony got the worst stock tip in D.C. history, or he skimmed the wrong Substack. Because Block reported earnings last night… and today the stock is in full collapse mode, down more than 21% in one of its worst days ever.

The former Twitter founder’s fintech company is getting smoked. And it makes sense, considering the company missed expectations on almost every metric that matters. Revenue… Miss. Profit… Miss. Payment volume… Also a miss. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.97 per share. Block showed up with $0.56 like a kid handing in a book report on a napkin. Revenue was supposed to hit $6.19 billion. They rolled in with $5.77 billion.

And then there’s Cash App, which was supposed to be their star player. Instead, it choked like Lamar Jackson in the playoffs. Gross profit for Cash App came in at $1.38 billion, under the $1.42 billion expected. And user growth also flatlined. Not shrinking… just not growing. Which, when you’re a high-growth consumer tech company, is code for “we’re in trouble.”

Normally Q1 is the company’s time to shine… tax refund season usually injects some adrenaline into the Cash App ecosystem. But this year, consumer spending on things like travel and entertainment dried up. CFO Amrita Ahuja said non-discretionary stuff like groceries and gas held up fine, but when people stop splurging, fintech companies feel it fast. Then Jack Dorsey got on the earnings call and casually admitted they “weren’t focused enough” on network growth. No kidding. If anyone needed a reminder that Jack is still trying to juggle being a spiritual tech monk and a CEO, here it is.

To be fair, Square (the business-facing side) held up a little better. Gross profit there was $898 million, slightly above the $885 million consensus. But that’s like having one All-Pro offensive lineman… doesn’t matter much if the rest of the line is a revolving door and your quarterback’s getting sacked every play.

And just to really seal the panic, Block cut its full-year profit guidance from $10.22 billion to $9.96 billion. That’s a decent-sized haircut, and Wall Street reacted how you’d expect. Downgrades rolled in from Wells Fargo, Benchmark, Seaport, and BMO like a line of angry Yelp reviews.

So back to Congressman Weid. His $175,000 investment in Block (which might’ve looked suspiciously well-timed two months ago) has now turned into a masterclass in “Bagholding 101” considering his position is down around $36k just 2 months in.

And unlike the usual political trades that have us asking, “What did they know and when did they know it?”, this one is a reminder that not every congressional buy is some copy-paste cheat code for easy gains. Sometimes, they’re just regular degens like the rest of us… except with better healthcare and worse timing.

Stock.News does not have positions in companies mentioned.