Trump Dreaming of Dumping Powell? Supreme Court Might Just Gift Him the Boot Button!
In a plot twist wilder than a reality TV finale, President Trump is swinging his executive axe at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, threatening to boot him faster than you can say "interest rate hike." With a Truth Social post screaming, "Powell's termination can't come fast enough," Trump’s itching to replace him with former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, who’s probably polishing his resume as we speak.
But hold the popcorn—this isn’t just a one-man firing spree. Trump’s also handed pink slips to the heads of the National Labor Relations Board, Merit Systems Protection Board, Federal Trade Commission, and Federal Election Commission, leaving a trail of stunned bureaucrats and legal challenges piling up in lower courts. One ousted FTC member quipped, “If Trump can fire me, he can fire Powell. We’re basically twins!”
The Supreme Court’s now stuck refereeing this chaos, with Trump begging them to greenlight his firing spree by overturning a 90-year-old precedent that says independent agency heads can only be sacked for “neglect or malfeasance.” That rule, set in the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor case, is the only thing keeping Powell’s chair from becoming a hot seat. Trump’s team, armed with Article II of the Constitution, argues the president should have free rein to yeet anyone in the executive branch. Legal scholars are split, with some whispering the court might carve out a special exception for the Fed, given its sacred role in guarding the nation’s piggy bank.
Powell, cool as a cucumber, insists the law’s on his side, citing the Federal Reserve Act’s vague “for cause” clause—think “inefficiency or malfeasance,” not “Trump’s bad vibes.” He’s keeping a hawkish eye on the Supreme Court case, but swears it won’t touch the Fed. Meanwhile, Trump’s economic aides are begging him to chill until Powell’s term ends in 2026, probably to avoid tanking the markets.
Will Trump’s firing fantasy become reality, or will the Supreme Court slam the brakes? One thing’s certain: D.C.’s drama is spiking faster than inflation. Stay tuned for the next episode of As the Fed Turns!