Leave it to one of the clowns at MSNBC’s Morning Joe to compare President Donald Trump to the murderous Communist Chinese government because of his beef with the Federal Reserve.
Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner penned a wild-eyed column for The New York Times that bordered on certifiable. After regurgitating his issues with Trump’s first term where he criticized Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and gave America a “preview of his weaponized tariffs,” Rattner embellished that these things “pale in comparison to the interference and even extortion of Trump 2.0., a set of actions that at times bear resemblance to China’s state-directed capitalism.”
“Most dramatically” of which, cried Rattner, was Trump’s attempts to “fire a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, Lisa Cook, an action of dubious legality that could have seriously negative consequences for our economy.”
First off: What in the Mao Zedong does China have to do with capitalism? Secondly, it is beyond idiotic to compare Trump firing a Federal Reserve official to a genocidal government that has a totalitarian vice grip on virtually every aspect of its economy, and operates a total surveillance state on its own citizens to enforce communism compliance.
Rattner shouldn’t be taken seriously at all when it comes to predicting “negative consequences for our economy.” After all, he’s the same schlub who had the chutzpah to claim in 2024 that “This has been a very successful period for American workers and they are better off today than they’ve ever been” under the inflation-stimulating disaster of Bidenomics.
Cook, as the National Review editorial board wrote August 27, could be fired under the Federal Reserve Act by the President if “cause” was shown. Trump’s rationale for firing Cook was based on allegations that she had committed mortgage fraud by claiming two homes as her primary residence, an arguably suitable “cause” if litigation proved it to be true. On another note, the stock market clearly was not buying the economic Armageddon propaganda TDS-afflicted talking heads like Rattner are peddling as a result of Trump firing Cook.
But aside from the alleged mortgage affair, Cook was “poorly qualified for the Fed in the first place. Biden wanted her to be the first black woman on the board,” indicating that she was a textbook case of a DEI hire, as National Review implied. “She is an accomplished economist, but she had no financial industry experience, her research isn’t about monetary policy, and some of it has replication issues.”
Cook had since sued Trump to keep her position. What about any of this screams Communist China to Rattner? Who knows.
Now, to be fair, Rattner did criticize the Trump administration for purchasing a ten percent stake in technology giant Intel, a move that free marketers would correctly identify as the clear-cut definition of government cronyism. However, Rattner managed to over-exaggerate this legitimate criticism too by claiming Trump “forced” Intel to give up its shares to the U.S. government. That’s a blatant falsehood. As CNBC reported, “Intel said that the U.S. government won’t have a board seat or other governance rights.”
Intel itself praised the arrangement:
Under terms of the agreement, the United States government will make an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, reflecting the confidence the Administration has in Intel to advance key national priorities and the critically important role the company plays in expanding the domestic semiconductor industry.
Doesn’t exactly sound like the deal was “forced” now, does it Steve?
Two things can be true at the same time: Is the deal reflective of bad economics? Sure, and no true conservative or libertarian would disagree. But is it a coerced arrangement as Rattner argued? Nope, and it was stupid for him to suggest that and even more asinine of him to lump Trump in with China. But what more can you expect from a person who’s a constant feature in the collective brain rot that infects MSNBC like a virus?
