Last Friday, President Donald Trump made a post on his Truth Social account criticizing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for his decision to maintain steady interest rates ahead of expected economic shocks resulting from the president’s sweeping tariff policy. In the post, Trump referred to Powell as a “numbskull” and a “Total and Complete Moron,” and even suggested that he might fire Powell, an unprecedented move that could violate the Fed’s status as an independent agency free from presidential interference.
“Maybe, just maybe, I’ll have to change my mind about firing him? But regardless, his Term ends shortly!” Trump wrote in the post. The president had previously considered firing Powell during his first term in office but backed off after adverse market reaction. Earlier this year, Trump also said that he had “no intention” to remove Powell before his term as chair ends in May 2026.
However, while Trump continues to waffle on firing Powell, one of the president’s staunchest congressional allies — U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama — is insistent that he do just that.
Since last Thursday, Tuberville has posted identical tweets to his X account every day at exactly 9 a.m. The tweets read: “Today’s a great day to fire Jerome Powell.”
What neither Tuberville or Trump seem to be concerned about is whether the president actually possesses the legal authority to “fire” a Fed chair — let alone what that firing would even look like were it to take place.
As Peter Conti-Brown of the Brookings Institute noted back in 2019, “To remove a member of the Board of Governors, the president has to have a reason—a ’cause,’ to quote the statute—a term that courts have historically interpreted as requiring ‘inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.'” Policy differences are unlikely to meet that standard.
Additionally, Conti-Brown also highlighted that Powell officially holds three separate positions, making it unclear what exactly it would mean for Trump to “fire” him. Powell is a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, the chair of the Board of Governors, and chair of the Federal Open Market Committee — the last of which is selected by the committee’s own members, not the president.
If Trump does indeed fulfill Tuberville’s wishes and “fires” Powell in any capacity, the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately have the final say on whether or not such an action can take place. Unfortunately for Trump and Tuberville, SCOTUS has already signaled that it would likely protect Powell from presidential removal if such a scenario came to pass.
In a May decision that approved Trump’s firing of members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, SCOTUS indicated that the president could not take the same action toward members of the Fed.
In their decision, the justices disagreed with any suggestion that the case had implications for the “for-cause removal protections for members of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors or other members of the Federal Open Market Committee.”
“The Federal Reserve is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States,” they added.
It remains unclear if Trump will actually follow through on his threats to remove Powell this time around, but in the meantime, those threats will likely serve to only create further legal, economic and political instabilities — instabilities which have become nothing less than hallmarks of the second Trump regime.
