The Big Beautiful Bill will inflict long-term damage on America
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Potential Powell successor pushes ‘regime change' at the Fed
Former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh, reportedly on President Donald Trump's short list to lead the institution, called Thursday for sweeping changes on how the central bank conducts business and suggested a policy alliance with the Treasury Department. 'We need regime change in the conduct of policy,' Warsh said during an interview on CNBC's ' Squawk Box.' 'The credibility deficit lies with the incumbents that are at the Fed, in my view.' Principal among those holdover officials is Chair Jerome Powell, who repeatedly has incurred Trump's wrath and is certain not to be reappointed when his term expires in May 2026, if attempts aren't made to remove him before then. Warsh is considered one of three or four finalists to take over, and he expressed multiple sentiments in line with what Trump wants from the Fed. The president has demanded the Fed to cut its benchmark overnight borrowing rate and has urged Powell to resign for not pushing for cuts. Warsh's comments indicate he could be at loggerheads not only with the way Powell has led the Fed, but also with holdover members who would be in place should he be put at the organization's helm. 'Their hesitancy to cut rates, I think, is actually quite a quite a mark against them,' Warsh said. 'The specter of the miss they made on inflation, it has stuck with them. So one of the reasons why the President, I think, is right to be pushing the Fed publicly is we need regime change in the conduct of policy.' In the latest drama surrounding the Fed and its embattled chair, a Trump administration official on Wednesday confirmed that the president met with Republican lawmakers the previous day and discussed Trump firing Powell. The official said Trump planned to do so soon, but he denied that shortly after. In addition to the rates issue, White House officials have criticized Powell over a multi-billion dollar renovation program at two of the Fed's buildings in Washington, D.C. Asked whether Trump should try to fire Powell, Warsh said, 'I think regime change at the Fed will happen in due course.' Trump's main stated reason in pushing for rate cuts has been to help lower financing costs on the nation's $36 trillion deb, which ostensibly out of the Fed's twin goals of low unemployment and stable prices. However, Warsh seemed to take the issue a step further and suggested a coordination between the Fed and the Treasury Department in how the nation manages debt issuance. 'We need a new Treasury-Fed accord, like we did in 1951 after another period where we built up our nation's debt and we were stuck with a central bank that was working at cross purposes with the Treasury. That's the state of things now,' he said. 'So if we have a new accord, then the .. Fed chair and the Treasury secretary can describe to markets plainly and with deliberation, 'This is our objective for the size of the Fed's balance sheet.'' The Fed is currently shrinking its balance sheet by allowing proceeds from maturing debt to roll off, rather than being reinvested as usual. Warsh generally supports the idea, known as quantitative tightening, but recently asserted that the Fed ought to be working with Treasury to help lower borrowing costs. 'I think the Fed has the balance wrong. A rate cut is the beginning of the process to get the balance right,' he said. However, the last time the Fed cut rates, Treasury yields actually rose. Markets expect the Fed to hold its benchmark funds rate steady at its policy meeting in late July, then possibly start cutting in September.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
MIKEY SMITH: 5 unhinged Donald Trump moments as Epstein row takes unexpected twist
Last night there was a twist in the Epstein row that nobody expected - and it's really unclear how it'll shake out What's going on with my 'guys', and in some cases, 'gals'? Last night there was a twist in the Epstein row that nobody expected - and it's really unclear how it'll shake out. Meanwhile, Trump continued to call his most active supporters "stupid". And he's so determined to reduce the trade deficit with Mexico that he's convinced Coca-Cola to use real sugar - despite howls of protest from farmers. Here's all that, plus more things that happened in Trump world overnight. 1. The Epstein row took an unexpected turn last night The Justice department last night fired a federal prosecutor who worked on the Jeffrey Epstein case - and signed the order to seal FBI documents relating to the case. No explanation was given, but the prosecutor has a very familiar name. Maurene Comey is the daughter of James Comey, the former director of the FBI who Trump infamously fired in his first term - and has pursued a furious vendetta against since. As well as successfully prosecuting Epstein, she was involved in the cases against Diddy and Ghislaine Maxwell. 2. Make Coke Great Again Clearly keen for the American people to see him concentrating on the important stuff, Trump declared he'd convinced the Coca-Cola company to start using real sugar in the beverage again. While cane sugar - as is used in Coke in the UK - is undeniably superior to the corn syrup used to sweeten the drink in the United States, the farming industry had something to say about the announcement. "Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn't make sense," said Corn Refiners Association President and CEO John Bode. "Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit." A huge amount of America's farming infrastructure is built around subsidising the cultivation of corn, which is used to make the high-fructose corn syrup used in hundreds of processed foods. This is likely to have come not from Trump's desire to make American Coke taste better - he famously drinks Diet Coke anyway - but from Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr's obsession with removing processed foods from the American diet. 3. Trump was 'surprised' that Jerome Powell was made Fed Chair. This is odd for a very important reason During an event with the Crown Prince of Bahrain last night, Trump was playing a bit of Hokey Cokey about whether he'll try and fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. First of all, he's not allowed to do that. The Supreme Court ruled on that a couple of weeks ago. Yet he reportedly asked a group of Republican congressmen whether he should do it - even brandishing the letter he'd use to commit the putsch, it's claimed. Then, about 15 minutes after reports of the planned ouster were began to circulate, he went on camera with the boss of Bahrain and said, actually, nah. He had no plans to fire Powell, unless it was for something like fraud. And he went on a long rant about how Powell is supposedly overseeing the refurb of the Federal Reserve, and claiming there are cost overruns and huge spending planned. It didn't stop him having a lengthy pop at Powell, whom he's mad at for not lowering interest rates. And then he made a startling comment, that if it'd been Biden would have been used as evidence of mental decline. "I was surprised he was appointed," Trump said. Which is he appointed him, during his first term in office. He was re-appointed by Joe Biden for a second term, but he was a Trump pick in the first place. 4. He called his own supporters 'stupid' Trump had already had a pop at a chunk of his fans on Truth Social, saying they'd fallen for a "hoax" in believing another shoe was yet to drop in the Epstein investigation, and adding: "I don't want their support anymore!" To recap, Attorney General Pam Bondi is under mounting pressure from MAGA supporters to release more documents relating to the dead paedophile, which they believe include a "client list" of prominent associates. But Bondi has denied any such list exists - despite having said in an interview that it was "on my desk waiting for review". And in the last few days, Trump has pivoted from "we've already shown you everything, stop talking about it" to "it's all a hoax. Biden and Comey made it up." Last night in the Oval he doubled down - branding some of his most ardent supporters "stupid." "It's all been a big hoax, it's perpetrated by the Democrats, and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net. That's how they do the Democrats' work." Get Donald Trump updates straight to your WhatsApp! As the world attempts to keep up with Trump's antics, the Mirror has launched its very own US Politics WhatsApp community where you'll get all the latest news from across the pond. We'll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in. All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group. We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. 5. Elmo got defunded Trump's Republicans in the Senate passed a bill slashing $9 billion from public spending - including deep cuts to foreign aid, NPR and PBS. NPR, for those who don't know, basically invented good podcasts. And PBS? Well. PBS has been the home of Sesame Street since 1969 (Kind of. Netflix gets the episodes first these days). And it's where people in the US of A can watch Downton Abbey and Doctor Who. Anyway, Trump hates both of them because they report the news factually. The legislation, which now moves to the House, would have a tiny impact on the nation's rising debt but could have major ramifications for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and US food aid internationally. It also could complicate efforts to pass additional spending bills this year, as Democrats and even some Republicans voice objections to broadly ceding congressional spending power with little idea of how the White House Office of Management and Budget would apply the cuts. (Don't panic, after the Netflix deal, Elmo will probably be fine. Dr Who fans probably less so)
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Just one in four US adults say Trump's policies have helped them, poll finds
In fact, the Republican president fails to earn majority approval on any of the issues included in the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research. He has even slipped slightly since earlier this year on immigration, which has consistently been a strength for him in his second term. And while a majority of Americans do see Mr Trump as at least 'somewhat' capable of getting things done following the passage of his sprawling budget bill, fewer believe he understands the problems facing people like them. President Donald Trump signs a bill during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House (Evan Vucci/AP) Roughly half of US adults report that Mr Trump's policies have 'done more to hurt' them since his second term began six months ago, the survey found. About two in 10 say his policies have 'not made a difference' in their lives, with about one quarter saying his policies have 'done more to help' them. The vast majority of Democrats and about half of independents say Mr Trump's policies have had a negative impact, while even many Republicans say they have not seen positive effects. The mixed reviews on Mr Trump's policies come as he struggles to follow through on key campaign promises, including lowering costs for working-class Americans, preserving popular social welfare programmes like Medicaid, ending foreign wars and lowering government spending. Inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as Mr Trump's sweeping tariffs push up the cost of everything from groceries and clothes to furniture and appliances. Separately, Mr Trump's budget bill included Medicaid cuts that will lead to 11.8 million more Americans becoming uninsured and add 3.3 trillion dollars to the national debt, the Congressional Budget Office estimated. At the same time, violent conflicts still rage in Israel and Ukraine. Overall, the new poll finds that about four in 10 US adults approve of Mr Trump's job performance, a figure that's in line with his June approval but historically weak compared with recent presidents. Closer to half of US adults approved of Joe Biden and Barack Obama at roughly the same point in their Democratic presidencies, according to polls from AP-NORC and Gallup, although Mr Biden's approval rating declined in the second half of his first year and remained low for the rest of his time in office. Mr Trump earned less than 50% approval on every issue included in the new AP-NORC poll, including the economy, government spending, trade, taxes, immigration, health care and his handling of the conflict in the Middle East. Only 43% of US adults said they approved of his handling of immigration, down slightly from the 49% who supported his work on the issue back in March. Mr Trump also appears to have lost some support for his spending decisions. About four in 10 Americans approve of Mr Trump's handling of government spending, down from 46% in March. On the economy overall, roughly four in 10 adults approve of Trump's performance, which has not changed measurably in the last few months. Despite such criticism, most US adults think Mr Trump is at least somewhat effective. About six in 10 say 'capable of getting things done' describes Mr Trump at least 'somewhat' well. And about half of US adults say the same about the phrases 'good negotiator' or 'capable of handling a crisis'.
