Trump’s first term felt different. Maybe it was the fact that we were younger and less aware. But still, there’s a noticeable difference between the vibes of 2016 and now. Though people were somewhat aware of how much of a threat he was back then, Trump appeared to be more of a joke, a caricature of America put on by a failing late-night sketch comedy show. In a (honestly pretty hilarious) bit during his 2018 standup special, Kid Gorgeous at Radio City, John Mulaney compared the presidency to a horse being loose in the hospital.
It lasts for about five minutes, mostly poking fun at the fact that Trump is so incompetent and unpredictable, he might as well be a horse that somehow ended up on the third floor of a hospital. There’s an air of goofiness to it that everyone knows he’s just going to be gone in a couple of years, and no one will ever have to worry about why there was a horse in the hospital in the first place.
If you’ve followed the news at all, I’m sure you’ve noticed that that is not what happened. The horse is back, and this time, he came with a plan. He knows how the hospital works, and he is trying to take it over from the inside. Even though he is just as ridiculous as he was before, the situation is far more serious. By taking down everyone who refuses to fall in line, he is attempting to consolidate power and become the singular point of authority in the United States.
This week, he’s been focused on Jerome Powell, the man in charge of the Federal Reserve. Powell has, for the most part, been a bipartisan pick who knows how to run the most important bank in the world. He was initially hired by George H. W. Bush’s Department of Treasury, and has been brought back and promoted by presidents such as Barack Obama and even Trump himself.
However, Powell has refused to blindly comply with Trump’s demands, which is the cause of Trump’s ire. The president is seeking to replace Powell with someone more friendly. And sure, Trump has fired a lot of people. This is just one more. What’s the worst that could happen? As it turns out, a catastrophic economic collapse. There is widespread evidence that an authoritarian government getting involved in the central bank doesn’t end well for that government or the economy.
Take what happened in Turkey several years ago as an example – then President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted that his central bank maintain a low interest rate. He also fired dozens of dissenters, accusing them of treason and ordering criminal investigations. The result? Inflation that peaked at upwards of 80%, and which still hovers around the 30% mark.
Or look at Argentina. In 2010, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner illegally removed a central bank governor. Economists will point to this decision as a turning point in the Argentine economy, and inflation has remained consistently at 30% since, hitting peaks as high as over 100%.
Or take Zimbabwe, when the central bank was forced to print money, resulting in hyperinflation. Or take the 1970s in America, when Richard Nixon tried to give the economy a boost for political advantage. Or what happened in Lebanon when similar actions were taken. It doesn’t take an expert to see the pattern.
Anyone who is an expert in monetary policy will tell you how dangerous political influence is in banking systems. In fact, many former Secretaries of the Treasury and Fed chairs signed onto a letter denouncing it, along with people ranging from the governor of the central bank of England to the CEO of JP Morgan Chase.
Unfortunately, it seems like we are beyond an era where experts’ opposition has any meaningful impact on the policy of this administration. And as Mulaney put it,
“You go to brunch with people, and they’re like, ‘There shouldn’t be a horse in the hospital.’ And it’s like, ‘We’re well past that.’”
The horse shouldn’t be in the hospital. Trump should not be the president. But somehow, he is. The question is not ‘Should this be happening,’ but “What can be done now.’
Fortunately, it seems like going after everyone’s favorite banker is somehow the line that congressional Republicans do not want Trump to cross. There has been backlash from several important Republicans in the Senate, including strong backlash from Thom Tillis (R-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who have said they would not confirm a new Fed chair. There has even been skepticism from normally strong Trump backers like John Kennedy (R-LA) and John Thune (R-SD).
As the latest polls for Trump come out (which show even his strongest issues deeply underwater), it seems like the more politically savvy Republicans are waking up to the fact that the extreme agenda that Trump has been pushing is, in fact, very unpopular.
It is incredibly important in times like these, especially for those (like me) who are from states with Republican representation, to make sure that your voice is being heard. Congressional officials know that every person who calls means another hundred who felt the same way but didn’t. The only way things are going to get better is if the threat of losing power becomes greater than the threat of upsetting Trump.
You can find the contact details for your local congressional delegation at https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials. Give them a call and let them know how you feel. That’s how we get the horse out.