And in the process, O’Donnell said, Trump also was forced to “implicitly acknowledge” that Powell is even more powerful than he is.
Trump has demanded that Powell cut interest rates and threatened to fire him for not doing so. That’s not a power Trump has, but the threat spooked investors already skittish over Trump’s tariffs and caused the Dow to plunge yet again on Monday.
The Wall Street Journal fired off an editorial calling Trump’s tariffs “the biggest economic policy mistake in decades,” and said Trump’s policies followed by his threat against Powell triggered a financial “meltdown.”
So on Tuesday, Trump did some damage control.
“I have no intention of firing him,” Trump said while taking questions from reporters during a televised appearance where he also blamed the media.
O’Donnell said Trump capitulated in front of everyone.
“And so now the humiliated clown Donald Trump, who has been the subject of some of the finest economic editorial writing the Wall Street Journal has ever done, has decided that it’s time to back down and desperately assure Wall Street ‘I have no intention of firing him,’” O’Donnell summarized.
See O’Donnell’s full takedown below: