ECONOMY/FEDERAL RESERVE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “I wrote at some length here on President Trump’s extraordinary attacks on Fed Chair Jay Powell. One thing I learned in the course of reporting: Both NEC Director Larry Kudlow and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke privately to Trump about the market decline, which continued with a big drop Thursday, and urged him to describe it as a natural correction while talking up the strong economy. Trump did some of that but could not help but lay into Powell, over and over. Senior administration officials tell MM that they hope markets smooth out, Trump tires of beating up on Powell and the Fed and simply moves on. They are under no illusions that they can stop him from saying anything. And Trump has done a ton of talking in recent days, from call-ins to Fox, sit downs with New York Magazine and a rambling Oval Office summit with Kanye West. Who knows what he’ll say next.”
–Ben White and Aubree Eliza Weaver, “Trump goes to war on the Fed,” Politico, October 12, 2018 8:00 am