Trump Whines About Person Who Appointed Powell, Forgetting It Was Him
President Trump once again raised questions surrounding his mental acuity after he seemed to forget that he was the person who appointed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while he was in the middle of admonishing Powell for not capitulating to his economic plan.
“He’s a terrible, he’s a terrible fed chair,” Trump said of Powell on Wednesday. ‘I’m surprised he was appointed, I was surprised frankly that Biden put him in and extended him.”
It was in fact Trump, not Biden, who put Powell “in.” The president nominated Powell for Fed chair in November of 2017, to replace Janet Yellen.
Trump on Powell: “I was surprised he was appointed” (Trump appointed him) pic.twitter.com/bBAObtdigg
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 16, 2025
The incident came just after multiple reports revealed that Trump has a secret letter firing Powell, and he has been asking Republican lawmakers whether he should send it.
This is also a major slip-up from Trump, the result of both his strong inclination to blame anything he doesn’t like on the previous administration and genuine mental decline. This is not the first time Trump’s mental fog has shown itself, even as he is just barely halfway through the first year of his second term. He went on an unrelated tangent about his summer vacation plans earlier this month when he was asked a very basic question about how long detainees would be kept in the Alligator Alcatraz detention camp, and famously confused Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley up at a campaign event last year. These are just one of many examples. Who knows what Trump’s mind will look like at the end of this term.