President Donald Trump made a series of strange comments about the Federal Reserve in an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday, bashing his Fed Chair Jerome Powell and displaying a deep misunderstanding of the institution’s strategy.
“I’m doing deals, and I’m not being accommodated by the Fed,” Trump told the Post. “They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”
“So far, I’m not even a little bit happy with my selection of Jay,” he continued of Powell. “Not even a little bit. And I’m not blaming anybody, but I’m just telling you I think that the Fed is way off-base with what they’re doing.”
During the interview, Trump gave incorrect figures on stock market growth since he’s taken office and seemed to misunderstand that the Fed is increasing interest rates to make sure that inflation stays down and to break the “boom and bust” economic cycle.
As reported by the Washington Post, Trump once upon a time was considering Fed Chair during the Obama administration Janet Yellen to keep the post that Powell now holds. However, he ultimately decided against her due to her stature: at five foot three, he thought, Yellen was just too short to run the central bank.
