FEDERAL RESERVE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump has made heckling the Federal Reserve, and its chair, Jerome H. Powell, something of a sport. He has berated Mr. Powell for raising interest rates and taking steps to end a crisis-era stimulus program, likening the Fed to a powerful golfer who has ‘no touch’ and cannot win. The past provides some precedent for that frayed relationship. The executive branch had avoided complaining about the Fed or interest rate policy since the Clinton administration, after officials determined that criticizing the independent central bank was a bad approach and leaving it alone would lead to better economic outcomes. But Mr. Trump quickly dumped that doctrine and returned to an old pattern of blaming the Fed for not doing more to help the president by lifting the economy. His grievances echo those voiced by presidents in the 1960s and ’70s, though his favored delivery channel — a social media account with more than 60 million followers — is far more public.”
–Jeanna Smialek, “Trump’s Feud With the Fed Is Rooted in Presidential History,” The New York Times online, June 24, 2019