‘There are no words’: Trump and White House condemned over latest attack meme | indy100

Related video: Trump rants about pens while attacking Fed chair Jerome Powell

REUTERS

As Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, approaches the end of his second and final term, US president Donald Trump has decided to share a meme attacking the man he once appointed to the position.

Back in January, Powell issued a statement in which he called out what he said was “threats and ongoing pressure” from the Trump administration after the Federal Reserve were issued with grand jury subpoenas related to renovation plans for office buildings.

He said: “This new threat is not about my testimony [before the Senate Banking Committee] last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress's oversight role; the Fed through testimony and other public disclosures made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project.

“Those are pretexts. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.

“This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”

The Department of Justice's attempt to subpoena Powell was quashed by a DC judge in March, with Judge James Boasberg writing in his ruling: “A mountain of evidence suggests that the dominant purpose is to harass Power to pressure him to lower rates.

“For years, the President has publicly targeted Powell because the Fed is not delivering the low rates that Trump demands.”

Powell is set to leave his role on May 15, though he will stay at the Federal Reserve as a governor for a short duration.

That hasn’t stopped Trump from squeezing in another attack on the chair, as he shared a meme of Powell falling into a dumpster to his Truth Social account on Monday with the caption: “’Too Late’ is a DISASTER for America! Interest Rates too high!”

“Too Late” is his nickname for Powell, by the way.

And like most of Trump’s memes, this was met with criticism on X/Twitter, with journalist Mehdi Hasan writing: “There are no words or precedents for this”:

National Review writer Jeffrey Blehar said: “If the shoe were on the other foot this would no doubt constitute a threat to Trump’s physical safety”:

“Nothing says ‘Presidential’ like posting a photo of a man potentially falling to his death. But 8647 is a threat,” tweeted political commentator Ed Krassenstein, referencing the ‘code’ which has been described as a “serious expression of intent to do harm to the president of the United States”:

To ‘86’ means to “throw out” or “get rid of”, according to Merriam-Webster, while 47 is believed to refer to Trump being the 47th US president – and ‘8647’ previously landed former FBI director James Comey in hot water when he shared a photo of seashells spelling out the number.

Fellow commentator Jo Carducci – known as JoJoFromJerz - expressed a similar statement when she replied to the White House tweet saying: “But some f***ing seashells are inciting violence, right?”:

The Bulwark founder Sarah Longwell said: “Garbage administration posts garbage meme”:

Journalist Jay Nordlinger commented: “It should be painful to patriots to see America descend into a juvenile farce”:

And a ‘Not Jerome Powell’ parody account responded by inserting Trump himself into the meme:

Seems people have some federal reservations...

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