The Federal Reserve arguably saved the US from a recession in 2024: Fed chair Jerome Powell calibrated interest rates to gradually bring down inflation without triggering an acute slowdown in economic growth.

But President Donald Trump isn’t satisfied with Powell’s performance, though. On Thursday, a day after the Fed decided against lowering interest rates, Trump called Powell a “FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue” on his social platform, Truth Social.

Trump wants to lower interest rates because he thinks that high rates are no longer needed to check rising prices. Inflation has come down to under 3 percent, but it threatens to increase again due to tariffs.

But Powell has full license to ignore what Trump thinks. The Fed and the president are supposed to act independently so that the country’s macroeconomic policy can be insulated from political concerns.

That’s why past presidents have largely — thought not always — steered clear of commenting on the Fed’s decisions, even when they have had political incentives to do so.

Former President Joe Biden was reluctant to publicly criticize the Fed and repeatedly emphasized its independence, deferring to its judgment on interest rates during a period of high inflation following the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Trump’s most recent attack on Powell was just the latest in a long string of his attempts to influence the central bank. Trump has recently dubbed Powell, whom he appointed in 2017, a “major loser” who was “too late and wrong” on inflation. He’s previously called the Fed itself “crazy,” “

© Vox