In an abrupt reversal, President Trump slammed the Federal Reserve for lowering the fed funds rate by a quarter point on Wednesday.
Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve Fail Again. No “guts,” no sense, no vision! A terrible communicator!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019
“What on earth is Jay Powell doing?” Trump fumed to the White House press pool, kicking Mike Pence aside in frustration. “This is the greatest economy in the history of the world. Why the hell is the Fed lowering interest rates?”
Trump’s previous position
As recently as 4:47 a.m. on Monday, the president held the exact opposite opinion on which direction interest rates should go.
…The United States, because of the Federal Reserve, is paying a MUCH higher Interest Rate than other competing countries. They can’t believe how lucky they are that Jay Powell & the Fed don’t have a clue. And now, on top of it all, the Oil hit. Big Interest Rate Drop, Stimulus!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2019
“So what?” said the president after being challenged about his changing stance on interest rate policy. “What were you doing at 4:47 a.m. on Monday, sleeping?” He looked around the press pool, pointing his finger. “I don’t see any of you having the guts to express a boneheaded idea like negative interest rates that early in the morning.”
CNN’s Chris Cillizza took the bait. “Mr. President, didn’t you call the Fed ‘boneheads’ just last week for not considering negative interest rates?”
….The USA should always be paying the the lowest rate. No Inflation! It is only the naïveté of Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve that doesn’t allow us to do what other countries are already doing. A once in a lifetime opportunity that we are missing because of “Boneheads.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2019
Trump shot Cillizza an icy stare. “Only someone from fake news CNN would ask that question,” he retorted, visibly annoyed. “You’d think the world’s chief purveyor of fake news would know not to believe everything you read.” He shook his head. “There’s a lot of fake news out there. A lot of it.”
“But Mr. President,” replied Cillizza. “You wrote it.”
The president sneered with thinly-veiled contempt. “How do you know I wrote that?” he snapped. “Did you watch me? Did you sneak into the White House like Nicholas Cage in National Treasure and see me typing while grunting on the toilet?” Seeing Cillizza’s jaw drop, Trump sniffed in disgust. “I didn’t think so.”
The Fed is dumber than Don Jr.
After Fox News reporter John Roberts gently prodded Trump about his views on what the Fed should do next, the president’s mood immediately brightened. “That’s a great, great question, John,” he said. “By the way, are you related to that liberal disgrace of a chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts?” Told there was no relation, he nodded his head approvingly. “You don’t want to be related to him, John, you really don’t. A total disaster for our country, that I can tell you.”
Following an awkward pause, Roberts reminded Trump about his question. “Look,” said Trump, “It’s very simple. It makes no sense for the Fed to lower interest rates during the greatest economy in the history of our country. Greater than China, than Russia, and much, much greater than Bangladesh. Why would they do that?”
Trump hesitated, musing aloud, “I haven’t done it yet, and I’m not saying I would do it — although maybe I would — but if I replaced Jay Powell with Don Jr., he’d do a better job.” Trump sniffed deeply, adding, “Even Don Jr. isn’t that dumb.”
2015 comments
Trump insisted that his dozens of tweets about the Fed not slashing interest rates were ‘fake news’ and pointed to his comments before becoming president. “If you want to know what I really think, don’t read the fake news in my Twitter feed, look at my comments back in 2015. You’ll see that I called out President Obama for trying to get re-elected by keeping interest rates down.” He shrugged his shoulders. “And what happened? Rates did stay low and he did get re-elected, which was a disaster for our country.
Trump seemed really concerned about the folks who'd be hurt by lower rates, "People who practice the American dream and did what should have been the right way — the people that went through 40 years of their life and saved a hundred dollars every week [in the bank].” pic.twitter.com/v4HJxMxReg
— John Reeves (@reevesjw) August 27, 2019
Asked by MSNBC’s Katy Tur if that wasn’t exactly what he was attempting to do, Trump’s face darkened. “You’re a nasty, nasty woman,” he shot back. He nodded toward two Secret Service agents who quickly took Tur into custody. “Next question.”
Don Jr. is available
Veering in typical scattershot Trumpian style, the president took aim again at Fed Chairman Jay Powell, calling his appointment the ‘biggest mistake’ in American history. “I just talked to Don Jr., and said he’s doing nothing but sleeping late, jackin’ the beanstalk and pretending to run The Trump Organization. That makes him the perfect person to head the Federal Reserve. He’d do a great, great job, believe me.”
Asked if that meant Jay Powell was officially out, Trump replied, “We’ll see what happens, but until I get back on the toilet — fake news!”
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