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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDelusional, senile old fool plain forgot he appointed Fed Chair Jerome Powell to the Reserve Board
Trump admitted Wednesday during an Oval Office press event that he was surprised that Jerome Powell was appointed Fed Chair, apparently forgetting that he was the individual who appointed the terrible appointee.
Hes a terrible Fed chair, he said. I was surprised he was appointed. I was surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him, but they did.
Trump appointed Powell to lead the central bank in November 2017, selecting him to succeed Janet Yellen despite Powell being a sitting member of the Feds Board of Governors. At the time, Trump praised Powell as a consensus builder with a strong, steady, and wise approach to economic stewardship. However, their relationship quickly soured as the Fed raised interest rates in 2018 and 2019.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-surprised-terrible-fed-chair-jerome-powell-was-appointed-forgetting-he-appointed-him/ar-AA1IJ7C6
watch:
Seven years ago, Trump Announces Nomination of Powell to Lead Fed

LetMyPeopleVote
(166,488 posts)Last edited Wed Jul 16, 2025, 04:47 PM - Edit history (1)
The president seemed to forget that he appointed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which was part of an unsettling pattern of cognitive missteps.
âYou would be worried if your grandpa started acting like this,â Barack Obama warned voters last fall. âThe point is we do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guardrails.â
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-07-16T18:49:54.892Z
This came to mind watching Trumpâs latest cognitive missteps. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-says-was-surprised-jerome-powell-fed-chair-appointed-was-appoint-rcna219162
Trump said he was surprised that Powell had been nominated to be chair of the Federal Reserve. I was surprised he was appointed, Trump said. I was surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him.
The Republican did not appear to be kidding.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:aunpu65mdrhwfie7ynymlzeh/post/3lu3tm6j3by2u
Link to tweet
I can appreciate the fact that memories can be short in American politics, and Trump often has no use for the integrity of recent history, but theres no reason for Trump to be surprised that Powell was appointed as the Fed chair because Trump is the one who chose him for the position in 2017. (Joe Biden renominated Powell in 2021, and he received broad, bipartisan support in the Senate.),,,,
Im mindful of the fact that many observers including those whove taken questions about Joe Bidens mental acuity quite seriously treat this line of inquiry as unfair. Trumps mental health is fine, they argue, and his oddities can be chalked up to his weird personality and brazen dishonesty.
Perhaps. But if Trumps cognitive state were deteriorating, what kind of signs would we look for? Maybe wed look for instances in which he forgot about appointing powerful officials whom he appointed? Or shared the details of non-existent conversations? Or offered answers unrelated to the questions hed been asked?
Dave Bowman
(5,492 posts)
bigtree
(91,931 posts)...he can still be used as a bad example of a human being.
wishstar
(5,739 posts)there is no ambiguity about Powell's political affiliation
malaise
(286,813 posts)😂
drray23
(8,308 posts)That would be asking for too much.