Expert shares 'real question' facing Trump now as trade war tanks 'soft landing'
President Donald Trump hasn't formed a plan of action for the conflict between Iran and Israel, but the uncertainty is only adding to the overall concerns about the stability of the American economy, commentators complained on MSNBC.
Several polls out this week show Trump is underwater on his top 2024 campaign issue, and Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell isn't shocked that he is taking his problems out on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Speaking on a Thursday "Deadline: White House" panel, Rampell recalled that Trump was the one who elevated Powell to the chairman and then promptly began calling him the "enemy of the people."
"So, Trump has been mad at Jerome Powell for many, many years because Powell is a professional, he is politically independent. He has all of the things that someone in that job is supposed to be. And for my money, I think that he's one of the unsung heroes of the past few years, the Fed in general, because they got us so close to the coveted soft landing, right?"
She noted that elevated inflation led to a slow response to changing interest rates, but managed to help inflation turn down without hurting the labor market.
"And then, as one economist put it recently, Trump decided to flip over the plane," she said, outlining how the trade war makes the Fed's job significantly more difficult.
"The Federal Reserve has two mandates: One is to get price stability and the other is to get maximum employment," she explained.
While she said that Powell's job is safe, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, his term ends next year, and the replacement may not be the best person for the economy.
"So, the real question is, who will be that replacement? Will the Senate confirm that person? Will that person be another professional or, for that matter, a hack? Because some of the people that Trump wanted last time around, after he decided he was really mad at Jay Powell, turned out to be not exactly the most professional or intelligent people."