Earlier this month, Vought posted a letter on social media accusing Powell of breaking the law, misleading Congress, and mismanaging a planned $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. The timing is not accidental. It comes just weeks after Donald Trump sent Powell a handwritten note pressuring him to slash interest rates. The letter also follows a wave of public attacks by Trump allies—including Peter Navarro and Bill Pulte—meant to delegitimize Powell and undermine the Federal Reserve’s independence.
This is not an isolated incident. It is a coordinated campaign to politicize monetary policy and bend one of the world’s most trusted central banks to the whims of a single man.
Enter Project 2025.
Russell Vought isn’t merely a budget director. He’s the lead architect of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-backed initiative that lays out in granular detail how a second Trump administration would erase agency independence, eliminate career civil service protections, and centralize power in the White House.
Among its most alarming proposals:
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Eliminate the independence of the Federal Reserve and bring rate-setting decisions under direct presidential influence.
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Dismantle regulatory agencies by purging civil servants and replacing them with loyalists.
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Replace evidence-based economic policy with politically motivated directives aimed at short-term electoral gains.
These moves would be catastrophic. Financial markets rely on the belief that the U.S. Federal Reserve is data-driven, not politically manipulated. Undermining that confidence would result in higher borrowing costs, increased inflationary expectations, capital flight, and long-term damage to U.S. economic credibility.
The supposed scandal over the Fed’s headquarters renovation is a distraction—an opportunistic attempt to fabricate cause for Powell’s removal or resignation. In reality, the increased cost of renovation is driven by well-documented factors: inflation in construction materials, labor shortages, and delays related to COVID-19, post-pandemic supply chains and Trump’s tariff policies, which have contributed significantly to these cost pressures.
Let’s not forget: Jerome Powell was appointed by Trump. And while the Fed’s response to inflation has not been perfect, Powell has consistently prioritized stability, independence, and transparency in a volatile era. That’s precisely what his critics now fear—he won’t bend.
Their ultimate goal is clear: replace Powell with a political loyalist who will slash interest rates to juice short-term growth, regardless of the long-term consequences for inflation or financial stability. If successful, this would not only destroy the credibility of the Fed—it would upend one of the last functioning nonpartisan institutions in American governance.
This moment demands clarity: The independence of the Federal Reserve is not a political luxury. It is a democratic necessity.
We cannot allow Project 2025—or those behind it—to dismantle the safeguards that keep American markets trustworthy and our democracy resilient. The future of sound monetary policy, and the broader health of our economic system, depends on our willingness to defend institutions like the Fed from politically motivated interference.
Chair Powell should stay the course—and so should we.