President Donald Trump blasted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as a “numbskull” Friday, bizarrely blaming Joe Biden for re-appointing the man who he himself first elevated to the post.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump fumed that Powell and “the Fed” were “choking out the housing market with their high rate, making it difficult for people, especially the young, to buy a house,” declaring, “He is truly one of my worst appointments.
“Sleepy Joe saw how bad he was and reappointed him anyway… the Fed Board has done nothing to stop this ‘numbskull’ from hurting so many people.”
His bizarre blast came just 48 hours after the 79-year-old president berated Powell in the Oval Office—and apparently forgot his own role in hiring him.
“He’s a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed… frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.
It’s quite the about turn, given what Trump said when he nominated Powell in Nov. 2017, praising his “wisdom and leadership.” Biden then granted the Republican banker a second four-year term in 2021, keeping continuity at the central bank during the post-pandemic rebound.
Powell, now 72, has spent much of Trump’s second term deflecting presidential pressure to slash rates to 1 percent. Inflation peaked above 9 percent in mid-2022, and the Fed later dialed its benchmark down to the current 4.25-4.50 percent range, pausing since January.
“We want to see lower interest rates. Our country deserves it,” Trump said on Wednesday, saying in his Truth Social post that stance costs “$1 trillion dollars a year” in unnecessary interest payments.
Powell has argued that, were it not for the president’s price-boosting tariffs, the Fed would probably have pushed rates down even further.
Wednesday’s rant triggered snark on social media. MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell quipped, “Dementia? And yes let’s once again imagine the reaction… if Biden said this,” highlighting the double standard when Trump confuses basic facts.
Trump is weighing replacements even as the president claimed Wednesday it’s “highly unlikely” he will fire him before his term expires.
