OPINION:
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to fight for the American people “every single day.”
Since the inauguration, President Trump has taken every step he can think of to tame the inflation that ravaged the American middle class during the Biden term. In so doing, he has made conditions ripe for another quality-of-life condition: the lowering of interest rates by the Federal Reserve. This would make borrowing less costly for the American people while simultaneously stimulating economic growth.
For whatever reason, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has stubbornly refused Mr. Trump’s request to lower interest rates. But the ferocious Trump isn’t taking no for an answer. He is applying public pressure to Mr. Powell to adhere to the mandate of his electoral win. Cutting interest rates is a key tenet in ushering America into the golden age Mr. Trump envisions.
Now there’s news out of Washington that Mr. Powell is being accused of lying to Congress after he denied that a $2.5 billion renovation of Federal Reserve headquarters would include numerous luxurious (and unnecessary) upgrades.
As I see it, the walls are closing in on Mr. Powell. If he was smart — which Mr. Trump say he is not — he’d quietly resign from his position and get out of Dodge unscathed. Whether he likes it or not, he is collateral damage standing in the way of the president’s mandate.
EUGENE R. DUNN
Medford, New YorkÂ
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