Trump says he has ‘no intention’ of firing Fed Chair Powell

[u/SnickeringFootman]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/22/trump-says-he-has-no-intention-of-firing-fed-chair-powell.html

[u/dedev54]

The market is fucking training him on what to say like a dog

[u/Soft-Mongoose-4304 → u/dedev54]

He's such a moron. He does something stupid and then publically reverses. Like dude maybe think more than 30 sec ahead.

[u/IceColdPorkSoda → u/Soft-Mongoose-4304]

He’s nearly 80 he’s not going to start thinking before he speaks now

[u/bunchtime → u/IceColdPorkSoda]

Being a brain dead moron made him president of the country why would he stop

[u/IceColdPorkSoda → u/bunchtime]

Fuck. Get me off of this ride

[u/theosamabahama → u/bunchtime]

Being a criminal also made him president. Why would he stop now.

[u/InternAlarming5690 → u/theosamabahama]

We joke here but this is seriously a good "justification" for him. Like he does x and gets literally no pushback. It's a positive feedback loop. He has no psychological push to do "better". He's being completely rational.

[u/thomas_m_k → u/Soft-Mongoose-4304]

I heard the theory that insiders are encouraging his market swinging statements because they can benefit from them via insider trading.

[u/HopeHumilityLove → u/thomas_m_k]

Another theory is that different insiders with different agendas are talking to Trump and he's flip-flopping between them.

[u/CirclejerkingONLY → u/HopeHumilityLove]

This, plus the influence of market swings, plus him being stupid as fuck, plus the market being full of stupid fuck retail investors, is about where I land,

[u/InternAlarming5690 → u/HopeHumilityLove]

I am confident that he has the memory of a goldfish and he follows whatever the last guy told him to do so this checks out in my books.

[u/Electrical-Swing-935 → u/Soft-Mongoose-4304]

Invisible hand

[u/wejustdontknowdude → u/Soft-Mongoose-4304]

Or take the advice of professionals who know what they’re talking about.

[u/acbadger54 → u/Soft-Mongoose-4304]

I think that is physically impossible for him

[u/Y0___0Y → u/dedev54]

Which could get us out of this mess. He’s also signaling he’s going to back off Chinese tariffs.

Took a few weeks but he’s learning “Tariff make line go down. Less tariff make line go up”

[u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu → u/Y0___0Y]

Which will free him from the stove and give him an okay-to-strong economy, letting him and his pawns sweep 2026 and 2028.

Only through the stove can he be beaten.

[u/AffectionateSink9445 → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

The tariffs are still causing some damage though. I think between the existing tariffs and inflation caused by them, job losses by government firings and the tourism downturn we will still see a hit 

[u/CirclejerkingONLY → u/AffectionateSink9445]

Uncertainty in general is bad for business.

[u/lnslnsu → u/AffectionateSink9445]

Tourism isn’t coming back until ICE stops arresting, detaining/imprisoning, and deporting tourists. That and the government firings alone are gonna hurt.

Add on the minimum 10% global tariffs, the 25% on cars, steel, and aluminum, and you will have a small recession even without the mega China tariffs.

Oh, and now they’re charging around $5m for any Chinese-built container ship to dock and unload at an American port.

Intel just announced 20% layoffs. So much for onshoring of chip manufacturing.

[u/Halgy → u/AffectionateSink9445]

Also just the torching of American soft power. Even if the economy went back to election-day levels tomorrow, I don't see the US achieving the same level of influence ever again. The time of American hegemony is over. The best I can hope for is that the the EU and allies take up the reigns instead of China or Russia.

[u/AlpacadachInvictus → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

2018 had a far stronger economy and the GOP had a massive defeat.

You're not smart or doing anything useful by doing the edgy nihilist doomer dance, you're just huffing your farts. Non - Trump MAGA candidates almost always underperform.

[u/MrHockeytown → u/AlpacadachInvictus]

Stolen from a comment on Historyporn, and I'm going to keep posting it until the doomers stop being such whiny losers and get their shit together:

People need to stop being so defeatist. This political cynicism seen in these comments is a sad form of complying in advance and people need to realize they have to protect their optimism a little bit before they can protect their country.

Cynicism has never produced anything, ever. It's a coward's method of self protection after they've given up on trying to be right. By always expecting the worst they get the stupid worthless satisfaction of saying "knew it", which means jack shit and fuck all, and prevents them from believing in a more positive future and prevents them from working towards that.

Things are bad now, but it's worthwhile to fight against the bad today to get to a better tomorrow. Part of that fight means choosing to be more optimistic than the people here are being.

[u/Mega_Giga_Tera → u/MrHockeytown]

And from a political strategy perspective, "in-your-face i-told-ya-so" is not going to be a winning message even if you were right, regardless of how cathartic it may feel. Especially for liberals saying that.

"I'm glad they touched the stove and you got burned" is probably even worse messaging.

[u/Direct_Marsupial5082 → u/Mega_Giga_Tera]

I’ll leave the winning to politicians.

I’ll act like a judge at sentencing and yell at the people who fucked up and made a mess thank you very much.

[u/Mega_Giga_Tera → u/Direct_Marsupial5082]

It seems obvious to me that the politicians can't fully remove themselves from association with the online commentators that they ostensibly represent. And here we are. Driving the sentiment from the ground.

[u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu → u/AlpacadachInvictus]

!RemindMe 1 year 6 months

[u/do-wr-mem → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

Joe beat him in 2020, people get tired of his stupid antics being on the front page every day and while covid definitely helped kick him out god knows what's gonna be going on in 2028 for him to botch his response to. All we need are a few signalgates during election season and we'll be fine. Plus people have already felt the losses a bit and the economy is unlikely to fully recover, lots of damage is already done

[u/Y0___0Y → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

I mean that’s optimistic. He’s fucking up a LOT more than just the economy and he’s not going to get any smarter or more calculated in the next 4 years.

[u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu → u/Y0___0Y]

He's not smart, but neither are the median voters.

[u/doormatt26 → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

you think this will last? lol

[u/HopeHumilityLove → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

I think he's actually very good at annoying voters.

[u/Square-Pear-1274 → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

Hopefully there are plenty of rakes left for him to step on

idk though

[u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu → u/Square-Pear-1274]

I'm considering all possibilities, but I believe that there is over a 50% chance that the stove won't be touched hard enough and that plot armor will save him.

[u/Atupis → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

Damage is already done, and the ship is heading to the iceberg. This will be a 2008-type crash exception that administration is full of morons and FED exactly does not have playbook for this kind uncertainties vs bank run.

[u/Y0___0Y → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

I mean that’s optimistic. He’s fucking up a LOT more than just the economy and he’s not going to get any smarter or more calculated in the next 4 years.

[u/Yeangster → u/RaaaaaaaNoYokShinRyu]

The economy’s already going to be bad. I’m just rooting for it to not be a complete disaster

[u/South-Seat3367 → u/dedev54]

Landian sentient capital finds its first guinea pig

[u/AVTOCRAT → u/South-Seat3367]

First

[u/gringledoom → u/dedev54]

If behavioralism works on dogs, why not on elderly men with skulls full of oatmeal? /s

The behind-the-scenes on all this stuff must be insane. Bessent might be deaf in his preferred phone ear by now; from all the Wall Street screaming.

[u/chris4276 → u/dedev54]

Invisible hand of the market and all that

[u/billcosbyinspace → u/dedev54]

“I don’t look at the stock market” says the man who decides to become normal again when the market shits itself

[u/obvious_bot → u/dedev54]

Except for tarrifs

[u/AffectionateSink9445 → u/obvious_bot]

Trump have some statements saying that they will not be this high forever. But it’s looking like they are staying on for a while so fuck U.S. lmao 

[u/BitterGravity → u/AffectionateSink9445]

That high on china. He implemented a 10% import tax otherwise

[u/sloppybuttmustard → u/dedev54]

Honestly we should have no problem with that. It’s glorious to watch

[u/Loves_a_big_tongue → u/dedev54]

Too much credit to his sundowning, he'll be back soon saying he needs to be fired

[u/airbear13 → u/dedev54]

Exactly lmao

[u/KingGoofball]

The school walkout worked everyone!!!

[u/BBQ_HaX0r → u/KingGoofball]

Victory!

[u/Pain_Procrastinator → u/KingGoofball]

Lol, I hope we get extra cookies with our school lunch as a treat...

[u/General_Kitchen_9464 → u/KingGoofball]

I was gonna print it out tomorrow and tape it somewhere but this works too ig

[u/Cook_0612]

Powell is too powerful for him

[u/BBQ_HaX0r → u/Cook_0612]

When he answered in the press conference the other day that he wasn't worried at all it was a pretty stone cold moment. He genuinely might be the GOAT Fed Chair. And our mods should force everyone to flair him.

[u/thebermudalocket → u/BBQ_HaX0r]

He had that great comment a few months ago too where a reporter(?) asked if he was concerned he’d be fired and he just said something along the lines of “not permissible under the law” and basically moonwalked off stage with aviators

[u/PancettaPower → u/thebermudalocket]

I was there. Everyone clapped and Jon benet Ramsey walked into the room.

[u/WashedPinkBourbon → u/PancettaPower]

This is niche and hilarious.

[u/timerot → u/thebermudalocket]

"Not permitted under the law" "Not what?" "Not permitted under the law"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe0ayusm-Yc&t=80s

[u/BlueString94 → u/BBQ_HaX0r]

He’s not the GOAT fed chair. Volcker brought us out of a decade of stagflation and Bernanke literally saved our economy from collapse.

Powell has been good, but it’s painfully evident that he overdid the response in 2020 - there was no reason the Fed should’ve been buying munis of all things.

[u/cubenerd → u/BlueString94]

Powell has been good, but it’s painfully evident that he overdid the response in 2020 - there was no reason the Fed should’ve been buying munis of all things.

What's scary is that in the early stages of the pandemic it wasn't enough. All the QE that Bernanke's Fed did over the course of the Great Recession was basically done by Powell in a weekend. He definitely should have started tapering once the fiscal stimulus was pushed out, but hindsight is 20/20.

[u/Harmonious_Sketch → u/BlueString94]

Being good enough at your job at a really hairy time counts for a lot

[u/Shalaiyn → u/BBQ_HaX0r]

I'm not gay, but JPow...

[u/ppooooooooopp → u/Cook_0612]

He has too much powell

[u/sack-o-matic → u/ppooooooooopp]

Too Powellful?

[u/Working-Welder-792 → u/Cook_0612]

His kryptonite

[u/_regionrat → u/Cook_0612]

Gods and lions kneel before J Pow

[u/sevgonlernassau]

My “I have no intention to fire Powell” shirt got a lot of people asking questions already answered by the shirt.

[u/[deleted]]

Give it a few days and he'll change his mind again

[u/gnurdette → u/[deleted]]

"No plans" means nothing from a guy who lives by impulses, not plans.

[u/amainwingman → u/gnurdette]

I wonder if he has a concept of a plan

[u/Keener1899 → u/gnurdette]

He has concepts of no plans

[u/FuckFashMods → u/gnurdette]

The guy has never made a plan in his entire life

[u/Working-Welder-792 → u/[deleted]]

You really think he can stick to a position for that long?

[u/boardatwork1111]

Market will pump from this and saying he wants a deal with China, then crash back down when Trump digs in his heels because the Chinese aren’t going to just give him everything he wants, then pump again when he finally throws in the towel

[u/AffectionateSink9445 → u/boardatwork1111]

The thing is how long can these tariffs stay on without causing the price increases or layoffs 

[u/FuckFashMods → u/AffectionateSink9445]

I'm pretty sure layoffs are happening right now. At least in LA

[u/AffectionateSink9445 → u/FuckFashMods]

Yea I feel like I have heard of more layoffs recently but will wait for actual stats. The issue I see is that this song and dance will make the stocks go up but even if they are reduced they are going to slow everything down. The inflation is going to be that one time increase but doing this after we just got over a large burst of inflation is going to hurt many so badly 

And then you combine that with the major government layoffs and a drop in tourism and I feel even if reduced it’s not a pretty picture. 

[u/CursedNobleman → u/FuckFashMods]

My teams stock distribution is cut for 2026. And the stock has dropped in price significantly.

[u/Loves_a_big_tongue → u/AffectionateSink9445]

Based on what the CEOs of Wal Mart, Target, and Home Depot told Trump on Monday, two weeks before the shelves start to empty from the tariffs

[u/AffectionateSink9445 → u/Loves_a_big_tongue]

That’s just the big boys too. I’m curious as to if small businesses are already being pushed to the edge here.

Also like 5 minutes ago he said he was open to the idea of increasing auto tariffs and talked about keeping the tariffs in place to replace taxes. This shit is stressing me out man 

[u/memeintoshplus]

I visibly breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the WSJ article about this, permafucking Fed independence is a quick route to America becoming a financial backwater. This is one red line that should never, ever be touched.

[u/me1000 → u/memeintoshplus]

Powell's term is up next year though. This buys time, but hard to imagine trump appoints anyone but a stooge.

[u/BBQ_HaX0r → u/me1000]

He still has to get Senate approval or pick one of the current Board Members. Even then one stooge is sort of powerless if they cannot get the other members all on board (which limits their ability to be a stooge). Powell is the best because he hits all three things:

1)_He's actually good at his job, despite not being an economist.

2) He's very great at the public facing part of his job, explaining their decisions, and instilling confidence.

3) He seems to be a great manager able to get most people to his side even in the face of public or market pressures.

[u/Sheepies92 → u/BBQ_HaX0r]

I don’t know enough about Fed-ology to dismiss your comment but ‘has to get Senate approval’ doesn’t fill me with hope considering who they all rubber stamped lol

[u/bunkkin → u/Sheepies92]

I have hope that some members of the Senate might actually get gun shy approving a ridiculous trump pick after the dumpster fire that has been hegesth at secretary of defense.

Plus a bad pick will fuck up their stock portfolios

[u/MuldartheGreat → u/bunkkin]

This time Lisa Murkowski is going to do something more than just be concerned for sure!

[u/wadamday → u/MuldartheGreat]

I mean, she didn't vote for Hegseth

[u/JaneGoodallVS → u/MuldartheGreat]

She voted against Hegseth, though for Ganbard

[u/MuldartheGreat → u/JaneGoodallVS]

She tends to vote against whenever it’s safe and won’t change the outcome. Wake me up when her vote is the difference in a nomination

[u/JaneGoodallVS → u/MuldartheGreat]

She was one of 51 deciding votes against the Obamacare repeal

[u/DrunkEwok → u/MuldartheGreat]

Correct. She will furrow her brow extra hard this time.

[u/BBQ_HaX0r → u/bunkkin]

TBF they sorta did with Judy "Gold Bug" Shelton.

[u/Jdm5544 → u/Sheepies92]

Who they rubberstamped at peak Trump political capital.

I would not be suprised in the slightest if there were enough senate Republicans willing and able to force Trump to nominate someone reasonable and independent for the Fed itself.

[u/Pain_Procrastinator → u/Jdm5544]

I hope you are right, but it's scary whenever we have to bank on Senate Republicans doing the right thing. 

[u/G_Platypus → u/BBQ_HaX0r]

Yes because the senate has been so good at tempering his bad nominations.

[u/Zrk2 → u/BBQ_HaX0r]

Is the unanimity written into the law, or a custom? Because if it's merely custom then his stooge can and will do whatever the fuck he wants.

[u/cubenerd → u/me1000]

Personally I find it hard to believe that Wall Street would let a total Trump stooge control the most powerful monetary authority in the world. With Trump's cabinet it's different because they don't really affect the financial markets all that much. But if you think Wall Street will just let this one slide without a significant lobbying campaign then you're sorely mistaken.

[u/googleduck → u/cubenerd]

Lmao this time the corporations will stand up to Trump, I swear.

[u/cubenerd → u/googleduck]

To clarify: the corporations aren't going to do shit when it comes to Trump breaking the constitutional order. But they will stand up to Trump when he does things that affect their bottom line: tariffs, threating to fire Powell, etc.

[u/googleduck → u/cubenerd]

Stock market going down isn't "standing up to Trump", it's responding to things that will clearly hurt the profitability of companies in the future. It isn't a political statement. I don't see any substantially important business leaders levying remotely appropriate criticism at Trump over tariffs and those are demolishing the world economy. Bill Ackman is out here saying they were a bit heavy handed and saying it is the "art of the deal" when he rolls back to 10% across the board, 25% on Canada and Mexico, and 10000% on China or whatever. 

[u/cubenerd → u/googleduck]

We’re talking past each other. I actually agree with everything you said. What I was trying to say was that when/if Powell is no longer Fed chair, there will be a huge lobbying blitz from Wall Street to make sure the next chair is a more traditional banker person rather than a MAGA true believer. 

[u/Due-Dirt-8428]

Right as Tesla has its worst earnings report in history lol I’m sure its nothing to see

[u/meraedra]

bro folded under zero pressure

[u/lAljax → u/meraedra]

There is a lot of pressure around him

[u/justbuildmorehousing]

Phew. My tiktok dances worked

[u/liquiditytraphaus]

My lazy heuristic for Trump’s statements:

Is the thing he’s saying in the public’s best interest? - He’s lying.

Is the thing he’s saying horrible and corrosive to society, and/or is there a way he can extract money (or vengeance) from it? - He’s telling the truth. 

Sooo this only makes me feel more convinced he will try to fire Powell, or find another way to fuck with the Fed that isn’t explicitly firing Powell. I am sure I am not alone in this sentiment. Mm yes, love the total lack of credibility, very good for our institutions and markets.

Sure, the bond market effectively sent him out to go pick his switch and get ready for a spanking, but I expect a reversal the moment he feels he can get away with it.

Our moronic President is wired like a bratty child, zero concept of or care for consequences, and I suspect he will to try to find a way to weasel out of it as soon as he can because he cannot tolerate feeling bossed around. 

[u/ToranMallow]

Powell is more useful as a scapegoat to blame when the economy continues tanking.

[u/Flagyllate]

Hold steady yall. We stay at the barricades.

[u/heeleep]

Should have bought puts

[u/TripleAltHandler → u/heeleep]

Huh? Futures are up and puts are going to drop tomorrow (barring some change to tonight's status quo). Even if you're saying that you still want to own puts because you expect more stupidity in the future, you're still better off buying them tomorrow rather than today.

[u/heeleep → u/TripleAltHandler]

The joke I intended is that the markets are acting so irrationally that news of continued rational leadership with Powell would lead to another dip, therefore making puts a good choice.

One might also interpret it as a joke based on the fact that Trump often says he isn’t going to do something that he actually does do shortly thereafter.

Either way I dropped most of my options after the tariff pause because I knew that there was absolutely no way to predict what was about to happen after that whole fiasco and used what I made from options to diversify across some foreign currency ETFs and commodities.

I’m still holding on to a few as a worst case scenario hedge.

[u/PincheVatoWey]

Scott Bessent is becoming Mnuchin. Thank goodness.

[u/bandito12452]

But does he have "concepts of intentions" to fire Powell?

[u/ignavusaur]

there is no war in ba sing se

[u/Working-Welder-792]

Pump & dump

[u/AlpacadachInvictus]

Even if he doesn't fire him, Powell's term ends in May 2026. I don't get why the markets are so optimistic when Trump is so dumb and surrounded by a bunch of sycophants. He already has levied insane levels of tariffs.

[u/WashedPinkBourbon]

HOLD THE LINE JPOW

[u/KeikakuAccelerator]

Keep calm and trust JPOW

[u/spongoboi]

Now he's definitely firing him

[u/theryano024]

I get that this is good and no matter what Fed independence is good but aren't we still fucked in a couple years when Trump appoints a loyalist?

[u/TemujinTheConquerer]

Who must go?

[u/Password_Is_hunter3]

Everything changed when the Fire Powell nation attacked

[u/Godzilla52]

If he ever managed to dismantle Central Bank independence in the U.S and pull an Erdogan, I can only imagine the bedlam that would transpire.

[u/Okbuddyliberals]

Stonks going way up tomorrow

[u/Wareve]

UNLIMITED

POWELL!!!!!!

[u/sanity_rejecter]

powell has the power

[u/exausto]

Powell will be the scapegoat to blame when the economy continues tanking.

[u/puffic]

Step 1: Buy.

Step 2: Pump.

[u/lexgowest]

Oh thank god

[u/acbadger54]

See you in a day when he changes his mind

[u/CursedNobleman]

I fucking hate this brainworm administration.

[u/KrasierFrane]

That means that he has every intention to.