The Authoritarian Threat Hiding in Plain Sight

by Robert Jennings, InnerSelf.com

The Federal Reserve—let’s be clear—isn’t just a bunch of nerds in suits fiddling with interest rates. The institution decides whether you can afford your mortgage, whether your grocery bill will balloon, or whether the economy collapses under the weight of political folly. Since its creation in 1913, the Fed has been largely independent, deliberately insulated from partisan politics. Why? Because monetary policy requires long-term thinking, not impulsive election-year gimmicks. That independence—the firewall between political ambition and economic stewardship—is now under direct attack.

At the heart of the Fed’s mission lies the “dual mandate”: price stability and full employment. In real-world terms, that means trying to keep inflation from spiraling out of control while ensuring enough people have jobs to keep the economy running. This is no easy task, especially in a globalized economy where one bad policy—a massive trade war—can throw everything off balance. The Fed has also added a relatively new tool to its arsenal since the 2008 financial crash: Quantitative Easing (QE). It’s a fancy term for flooding the financial system with cash by buying government bonds. When done responsibly, it can stabilize markets. But when QE is used to prop up political cycles or bail out bad policy? That’s a recipe for long-term disaster.

And speaking of bad policy—let’s talk tariffs. Trump’s aggressive trade war with China and plans to slap 10% tariffs on nearly all imports is already stoking inflation. These tariffs tax consumers and businesses, driving prices on everything from clothing to electronics. The Fed is left to clean up the mess, raising interest rates to fight the inflation that Trump’s actions helped create. It’s economic arson followed by demands to fire the firefighters. If Trump silences the Fed, it won't just be interest rates he’s hijacking—it'll be your standard of living, job, and retirement savings on the line.

Trump’s authoritarian instincts are no secret. From demanding loyalty oaths to calling journalists “the enemy of the people,” he’s clarified that he prefers obedience over oversight. So it’s no surprise he now wants the Fed to become just another yes-man outfit. Trump recently threatened to fire Jerome Powell if he didn’t toe the line—a line drawn not in economic logic but in Trump’s political convenience.

The president doesn’t have the legal authority to fire the Fed Chair just because he’s mad the rates didn’t drop before an election. But legal constraints haven’t stopped him before, have they? You can bet he’ll find a loyal legal toady to say otherwise.

The Fed Is Supposed to Be Independent—For a Damn Good Reason

The architects of the Federal Reserve knew precisely what they were doing when they built a wall between politics and monetary policy. They understood that economic stability depends on consistency—not campaign cycles. Interest rates, inflation targets, and employment strategies can’t be whiplashed every four years because someone wants to juice the numbers before an election. That’s why the Fed was designed to be independent. Letting a president dictate interest rates is like giving a compulsive gambler the PIN code to your retirement account. They might promise quick returns, but they’ll burn through your savings—and take the house down with them.

And this isn’t some academic debate—it already happened. When Richard Nixon pressured then-Fed Chair Arthur Burns to keep rates artificially low in the run-up to the 1972 election, it led directly to the economic nightmare of the 1970s: sky-high inflation paired with stagnant growth, better known as stagflation. Gas lines, soaring grocery prices, and plummeting real wages haunted Americans for over a decade. Today, we’re teetering on that same abyss again. With inflation already stirred up by Trump’s reckless tariff war and employment numbers masking more profound instability, the last thing we need is another strongman grabbing the Fed’s levers. If we let Trump turn the Fed into his personal slot machine, history won’t just rhyme—it’ll repeat itself in painful detail.

Let’s talk about Powell. He’s no progressive firebrand. He was Trump’s own pick in 2018. But like a few others in Trump’s orbit—think James Mattis or Mark Milley—Powell made the mistake of doing his job instead of pledging fealty. He didn’t cut rates just to help Trump’s re-election, and for that, he's been in Trump’s crosshairs ever since.

This isn't about economics anymore—this is about power. Powell represents resistance to Trump’s fantasy of total control, making him expendable in the eyes of the man who thinks loyalty should trump legality.

When Autocrats Grab the Purse Strings

You don't have to look far to see the real-world consequences of leaders hijacking central banks. Take Turkey, for example. President Erdoğan decided interest rates were “evil” and insisted on cutting them while inflation skyrockets. He replaced central bank leaders who disagreed with him, over and over again, until he had yes-men in every economic chair. The result? A financial meltdown. The Turkish lira lost more than 80% of its value over just a few years, prices for everyday goods spiraled out of control, and middle-class families were plunged into poverty. Erdoğan’s grip on monetary policy gave him short-term political gain—but at the cost of long-term economic devastation for his people.

And then there’s the mother of all economic horror stories: Weimar Germany. After World War I, the German government printed money to pay off crushing reparations. But without any independent check on that power, inflation didn’t just rise—it exploded. At its peak, German currency lost value so rapidly that people had to carry stacks of bills in wheelbarrows just to buy a loaf of bread. The chaos paved the way for authoritarianism. When people lose faith in their money, they start looking for anyone who promises order, no matter the cost. That vacuum is where demagogues thrive, and it’s no coincidence that Hitler rose to power on the heels of that monetary collapse.

These are not isolated incidents—cautionary tales in economic history books. In Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro followed a similar script: fire independent voices, print money with abandon, and blame external enemies when it all goes sideways. Zimbabwe’s economy was reduced to rubble under Robert Mugabe using the same playbook. When a nation’s leader controls the printing press, it’s no longer monetary policy—political artillery. Control the money, and you control the lifeblood of the economy. Wages, savings, mortgages, and markets all become tools of compliance. That’s not fiscal management—it’s autocratic rule with a price tag, and the people always end up footing the bill.

Money and Power: The Final Dominos

We talk a lot about Trump’s threat to democracy—his election lies, his attacks on the press, his January 6 insurrection. But seizing control of the Fed? That’s where talk turns into transformation. If he politicizes monetary policy, the dominos fall fast. First the Fed, then the Justice Department, then the Supreme Court—oh wait, those are already checked. Next thing you know, we’re not living in a democracy at all. We’re living in a dictatorship wearing a flag pin.

The Fed is one of the few remaining institutions that still operates imperfectly, with some independence from political winds. Lose that, and you lose any pretense that economic policy is about anything other than political power grabs.

Here’s a radical idea: we stop pretending this is normal. Trump’s threat to fire Powell is not a policy disagreement—it’s a declaration of intent. If we ignore it, we do so at our own peril. Journalists, economists, voters—everyone needs to treat this for what it is: an authoritarian land grab dressed up as “making America great again.”

Congress also needs to step up. They have the authority to clarify that the Fed Chair can only be removed for cause. Waiting for the courts to sort it out post-coup is a losing game. This needs action now—while we still have institutions left to protect.

Climate Collapse Isn’t Coming—It’s Here

While Trump wages war on economic institutions and pretends climate change is some coastal liberal myth, the planet is hemorrhaging carbon. Just look at the data: the annual global increase of CO₂ has more than tripled since the 1960s. That fact isn’t just academic —it’s a planetary EKG flatlining in real-time. The year 2023 shattered all records for CO₂ growth, pushing us well past 3.5 parts per million in annual increase. In North America, we’re already seeing the fallout. Last year brought a brutal summer of unrelenting heat domes across the Midwest and Canadian wildfires so massive they turned New York City skies orange for days. This isn’t a distant threat—it’s already in your backyard, filling your lungs and emptying your reservoirs. We can expect a new El Nino to form soon, and the result will not be pretty.

Trump’s response? Slash regulations, boost oil drilling, gut climate funding, and punish states that try to do better. It’s a death spiral with a flag wrapped around it. The climate doesn’t care about party lines or campaign slogans. It cares about parts per million. And at the rate we’re going, this isn't about avoiding catastrophe—it's about surviving it. If Trump stays in power, there will be no coordinated response, no Green New Deal, no resilience infrastructure—just tweets, scapegoats, and blackouts. If Trump is allowed to continue, the wealthy will get tax cuts. You and your kids will get a dying planet.

It’s the Economy—and the Constitution, Stupid

If you think this is just about interest rates, think again. Trump’s open threat to the Federal Reserve is not just economic malpractice—it’s a direct strike at the U.S. Constitution. It undermines the separation of powers, bulldozes institutional checks, and hands the keys of monetary policy to a man who treats governance like a reality show and chaos like strategy. When money becomes political, freedom becomes optional. And Trump isn’t hiding his intentions—he’s bragging about them. The Fed isn’t just in his sights—it’s already under siege. That’s not speculation. That’s the playbook he’s unfolding in real-time.

The financial markets have already started reacting. Volatility is up. Treasury yields are swinging like a wrecking ball. Inflation is quietly rising again, stoked by Trump’s reckless tariff escalation and the global uncertainty his leadership generates. And while the official data might be slow to reflect it—because economic reporting always lags the damage—the early signs are flashing red. Consumer confidence is now scraping the bottom, the second-lowest level in the index's history. Households are tightening belts, credit card delinquencies are creeping up, and whispers of recession aren’t just coming from the fringe. Wall Street analysts, global partners, and even a few terrified insiders know the truth: Trump’s chaos has economic consequences that can’t be papered over with slogans and blame-shifting.

They say, “You’ve got to break some eggs”—but your family’s future is being scrambled. This isn’t temporary pain for long-term gain. This is calculated suffering. You will suffer now so he can dismantle federal institutions gut regulatory agencies and reshape the country in his authoritarian image. And it won’t stop at you. Your children and grandchildren will inherit the wreckage: higher debt, reduced trust in monetary systems, and a planet gasping under the weight of unchecked climate change—because while Trump fights to dominate the Fed, he’s also torching any meaningful action on climate policy. Remember, it's only the beginning if you’re feeling the heat now. The damage being done today won’t be measured just in dollars or degrees—it’ll be written into the history your grandkids have to live through. The only question is whether we stop this train—or ride it straight off the cliff.

It doesn’t have to end this way. We don’t need a revolution—we just need a handful of Republicans in the House and Senate to grow a spine or a pair. This isn’t about parties anymore. It’s about the survival of a functional economy and the last gasps of constitutional democracy. Trump has already shown us who he is. The question now is whether anyone in his own party has the guts to say enough. Remove him from the office. Not next year. Not after more chaos. Now. Before we cross the point where there’s nothing left to save—not the Fed, not the economy, and not the country.

Senator Lisa Murkowski recently acknowledged, "We are all afraid," referring to the palpable fear among lawmakers of political retaliation from President Trump. This climate of intimidation underscores the urgent need for courage in our political leaders. As John F. Kennedy highlighted in Profiles in Courage, authentic leadership often requires standing up against one's own party for the greater good. In this pivotal moment, history will remember those who acted and those who remained silent. Preserving our democracy and future generations' well-being depends on a few's bravery to confront the challenges posed by authoritarian tendencies.

About the Author

Robert Jennings is the co-publisher of InnerSelf.com, a platform dedicated to empowering individuals and fostering a more connected, equitable world. A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army, Robert draws on his diverse life experiences, from working in real estate and construction to building InnerSelf with his wife, Marie T. Russell, to bring a practical, grounded perspective to life’s challenges. Founded in 1996, InnerSelf.com shares insights to help people make informed, meaningful choices for themselves and the planet. More than 30 years later, InnerSelf continues to inspire clarity and empowerment.

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Article Recap

Trump’s threat to fire Powell isn't just about interest rates—it's a serious strike at the independence of the Federal Reserve. The long-term damage to economic credibility and democratic checks could be irreversible. By politicizing the central bank, Trump reveals an authoritarian impulse that threatens both economic and constitutional order.

#TrumpFederalReserve #PowellThreat #EconomicIndependence #StopAuthoritarianism #FedUnderFire