When Presidents Bully the Fed, Watch Out
Trump might want to consider the legacies of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.
Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon bashed their Fed chairmen. The results were ugly.
Photograph: Corbis via Getty Images
Donald Trump is a man on a mission: So many norms to shatter, so little time. Last week he took a swipe at the vaunted independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve, declaring that he’s “not thrilled” that the nation’s central bank seems intent on raising rates in the coming year. On Friday morning he vented his anger in another tweet: “Tightening now hurts all that we have done.”
This all marks a decided break with decades of polite precedent. Recent presidents may have grumbled about the decisions of the Federal Reserve, but they didn’t voice their objections so baldly in public.