President Donald Trump escalated his ongoing war of words against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Monday morning, posting a lengthy personal attack on the head of America's central bank on his Truth Social platform.
Powell, who was ironically first appointed to the post by Trump himself, has repeatedly warned that Trump's tariffs are set to increase prices, and has resisted pressure from Trump to try to offset the market contraction induced by his own trade policies with interest rate cuts — which has only enraged Trump further.
"'Preemptive Cuts' in Interest Rates are being called for by many," wrote Trump. "With Energy Costs way down, food prices (including Biden’s egg disaster!) substantially lower, and most other 'things' trending down, there is virtually No Inflation. With these costs trending so nicely downward, just what I predicted they would do, there can almost be no inflation, but there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW." (In fact, inflation rose slightly in the most recent reports.)
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Trump then went on to accuse Powell of manipulating interest rates to try to interfere against him in the 2024 presidential election.
"Europe has already 'lowered' seven times," Trump said. "Powell has always been 'To Late,' except when it came to the Election period when he lowered in order to help Sleepy Joe Biden, later Kamala, get elected. How did that work out?"
Trump has increasingly played with the idea of firing Powell from his post outright, a move that has never been done by a U.S. president and which it's doubtful the president even has the power to do. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reportedly tried to dissuade Trump of this idea, warning that such a move, even if it were allowed by courts, would send the markets into chaos.
