The Adam Mockler Show - He can't be this stupid...

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, we have some wild and unprecedented news to break down on this Sunday night. Donald Trump just made a serious move to politically persecute Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and seize control of the United States monetary policy. That is Donald Trump's end goal to have unilateral control of the economy, in the same way he wants to have unilateral control of the military, and subvert Congress with essentially every single move that he makes. Well, Fed Chair Jerome Powell released a two-minute, defiant, brave video in which he calls out this administration for their political attacks. He made something unusually explicit in this video, an explicit warning that this threat of criminal charges is being used as leverage to bully their way into controlling monetary policy.

Let me just read for you this quote before I lay out all of the context surrounding this. Jerome Powell in this video says, quote, 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. And this hits to the core of the reason, the core reason why the Federal Reserve is independent, because if the whims of one single person controlled the economy, they would make short-sighted short-term decisions to maybe benefit themselves politically ahead of the midterms, ahead of a brutal, brutal election coming up, rather than thinking about the long-term consequences of the monetary policy that they are setting. It's important to point out Donald Trump has had a years-long feud with Jerome Powell, somebody who he doesn't even know he appointed.

Donald Trump is the one that appointed Jerome Powell as the Fed chair, and time and time again, he's attacked Biden for making a stupid decision. This is just dementia and competence. And honestly, I think Trump is intentionally gaslighting to try to make it seem like he didn't make this decision himself. Also, despite the fact that we have a fool at the Federal Reserve, I mean, Biden reappointed him as too bad. You would have thought he wouldn't have done that.

But he's an absolute fool who's building a new Federal Reserve or he's doing a renovation of a building. Maybe he's up to $4.1 billion to do a renovation of a few very small buildings. Wait a minute. It's just a cherry on top that it's, zooms out and Trump is ranting about Jerome Powell to none other than BB Net and Yahoo. Bro, no one gives a fuck, especially not BB Net and Yahoo, absolutely insane, deranged rants, but it gets worse. Trump's truth allows you to search through all of Trump's posts on his website, Truth Social.

So I searched the word Jerome, and there are dozens of posts. Donald Trump attacking the Fed chair. He says, Jerome Too Late Powell should have lowered rates. Jerome Too Late Powell must now lower the rate. Jerome Too Late Powell is a stubborn moron than he goes in all caps. He just attacks him over and over and over. He calls him an obstructionist. He says he's hurting the housing industry.

There is a very specific reason that the Federal Reserve was intentionally designed to be independent of the president, and it's because interest rates can control inflation, employment, borrowing costs, financial stability, and if politicians can unilaterally pressure the Fed to cut rates for short-term political gain, the long-term damage can be severe for the economy. Do you trust Donald Trump to unilaterally make monetary decisions and not just benefit himself, his friends, and maybe the Republican Party short-term? Because I do not.

Let's continue to break down Donald Trump's obsession with Jerome Powell. This is some important context. And by the way, if you appreciate the speed of independent media, if you appreciate the way we just break down all of the lies and give you the truth, then make sure you drop a like below. subscribe to the atomoclify to get more breaking news. It genuinely means the world.

In this video right here, Donald Trump tries to ambush Jerome Powell. This happened a few months ago. Donald Trump tries to ambush Jerome Powell about the costs of building this new headquarters. Now, this is a total ambush where Trump lies to Jerome Powell and tries to intentionally do a gotcha on camera. But just remember, Trump has been tearing down the 123-year-old East Wing in the White House, spending money on renovating that, this is pure projection and political persecution. It looks like it's about $3.1 billion, one up a little bit, or a lot. So the 2.7 is now 3.1.

I'm not aware of that. Yeah, it just came out. Yeah, I haven't heard that from anybody. The Fed. You'll notice that Trump had a piece of paper ready in his pocket that he could pull out because he wanted to try to ambush Jerome Powell, but Jerome Powell fact checks him on the side. bottom. I don't know that about 3.1 as well.

3.1, 3.2. This came from us? Yes. I don't know who does that. You're including the Martin renovation. You just added it. You just added in a third building is what that is. That's a third building.

It's a building that's being built. No, it was built five years ago. We finished Martin five years ago. It's part of the overall work. So, uh, he is so effing done with Trump's BS. And that backfired on. Trump. Now remember, this was a few months ago. Then Trump continues to just attack Jerome Powell.

I mean, dozens and dozens of attacks against the Federal Reserve Chair, this is what happens in third world countries. Or you're not supposed to, this is what happens in underdeveloped countries where political leaders interfere with central banks, interfere with inflation. Inflation then rises and markets lose confidence in its cyclical. Economies become more volatile. This is what Donald Trump is going to inadvertently do, and that is why everybody is sounding the alarm. Josiah, pondering politics points out, Powell has bigger balls and more integrity than any current elected Republican. Jason says, a terrific statement from a true statesman. I am grateful for everything Chair Powell is doing to resist this outrageous attempt by the president to use lawfare to subvert the feds

responsibility to pursue the objective set for it by the law, which is maximum employment in price stability. I'm going to let this video play out. Check it out. Good evening. On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June. That testimony concerned in part a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings. I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one, certainly not the Chair of the Federal Reserve, is a good respect. above the law. But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the

administration's threats and ongoing pressure. This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress's oversight rule. 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. Sorry to pause it, but that is a very, very important line. Again, he said, 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. He is saying that Trump is trying to seize control of U.S. monetary policy, through bullying and intimidation. That's what he's saying. 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. Yep. I have served at the Federal Reserve under four administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike. In every case, I have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our mandate of price stability and maximum employment.

Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. I will continue to do the job the Senate confirmed me to do with integrity and a commitment to serving the American people. Jerome Powell has consistently, consistently stood up for what is right.

Thank you. Every single time, every single time Jerome Powell has kept a steady hand. Listen, I'm not somebody who's like a Jerome Powell sycophant. Trump appointed him. I don't really, I'm rather agnostic on it. But at the end of the day, Jerome Powell has repeatedly held the line when asked in press conferences, hey, dude, are you going to let Trump pressure?

He always says, no, I'm going to follow the law. Now, what Trump is doing here is going beyond an erosion of norms. It's, yes, authoritarian, but it's also incredibly dumb, economically reckless. If a president actually cares about markets and inflation and economic stability, he should allow the Federal Reserve to keep a steady hand. he should keep a steady hand himself, and the entire reason the Fed exists independently is credibility. If Donald Trump were to seize the Fed or take control of monetary policy, markets would go into a frenzy because they wouldn't know what to believe. Markets currently believe that the Fed decisions are based on data, data that is coming in, not politics. So the second investors think that interest rates are being

bullied out of Jerome Powell, confidence will collapse. That is why people continue to say. Chad says, as someone who spent a significant part of his career arguing for institutional reform at the Fed, let me tell you that the last thing you want is a Federal Reserve Bank that's captured by the political interests of the executive branch. Thank you. Kai Von Schroff says, Jerome Powell was appointed his Fed chair by none other than disgrace twice impeached felon Donald Trump himself. He won't do Trump's bidding and wreck the economy so they are weaponizing the DOJ against him. He has served under two GOP presidents and two Democratic presidents. People are posting memes free Jerome Powell, school walkout, Monday 12th, 12 p.m., spread the word.

Obviously, it's a joke. High schoolers won't know who Jerome Powell is, 99% of them. But just to zoom out, it's really important to point this part out. After blasting Powell over his renovation project a few months ago, Trump then went on to tear down the 123-year-old East Wing to make way for his 90,000 square foot White House ballroom, which is expected to cost $400 million. The president repeatedly fired shots that I Powell over the past year, calling him incompetent, calling him too late Jerome in trying to seize control of the Fed. Trump also amped up his campaign against the Fed by announcing in August he was terminating Lisa Cook, the first ever black woman to serve as a central bank governor. Presidents can only remove Fed officials for cause, which is widely understood to mean malfeasance or neglect of duty. There is no evidence that Jerome Powell has done either of these things.

they're trying to create a pretext and I'm going to leave it there. If you made it this far, drop a blue heart. I love you all and peace out.