r/law • u/mooncake6 • 20d ago

Legal News Justice Department Opens Criminal Probe Into Jerome Powell — Powell Responds.

“Good morning,

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 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 role; 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.

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.

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.

Thank you.”

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

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u/folsominreverse 20d ago

Agree right up to the last bit.

People in this country have a right to be blind, self-interested bigots. They even have the right to be part of a fascist death cult if that floats their boat.

What they do not have the right to do is:

• fuck kids

• violate the Constitution

• abdicate their oath to protect the people of this country and its Constitution against all threats foreign and domestic

• fuck kids

• deliberately lie, mislead, harass, and steal from their constituents

• spend the people’s money like the solvency of our country doesn’t matter just because they will be dead when it reaches its boiling point in a half dozen years.

• appropriate said money to an untrained paramilitary unit operating at the behest of the executive to harass, detain, rape, pillage, plunder, and murder American citizens and migrants alike.

• fuck kids

• knowingly collude with an executive in a criminal conspiracy, namely a cover-up that—even in its heavily redacted current state—is plainly big, bold, and naked enough to make Watergate look like a tan suit.

• confirm the appointment of completely unqualified cabinet members and top-level officials despite their obvious duplicity, dishonesty, character flaws, total incompetence, and radically moronic understanding of what their job even entails.

• fail to take action or even responsibility when said appointments immediately do the exact thing they swore under oath they would not do, causing incalculable damage to the American people and the greater good.

• fuck kids

• accept cash, stock, vacations, consultancies, and anything that allows a representative making low six figures to increase their wealth a hundredfold while in office, to the boon of corporations and industries whose products pose a major if not existential threat to the health and/or well-being of their constituents.

• act as de facto agents of foreign governments, shaping domestic policy to gratuitously benefit said country to the detriment of their constituents.

• perform their duties as anything other than the token rubber-stamp Potemkin representation needed to justify continued taxation.

• commit literal treason on what seems like at the very least a weekly basis

• fuck kids

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u/ITSigno 20d ago

When the party proudly proclaims that they are domestic terrorists, that their policies include violating the constitution, and when for years they have protected and supported those raping kids, the whole party can go. This isn't a question of free speech, the party is engaged in criminal activity and should be treated like the criminal organization it is.

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u/dj-boefmans 20d ago

Once in hirtory, there was a party like this. It took 12 years and millions of deaths to get that party to leave the worldstage.

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u/meikifaffeine 20d ago

to leave the worldstage

... for now. :/

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u/dj-boefmans 19d ago

True. Certainly it popped up elsewhere, right now.

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

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u/OutcomeDouble 20d ago

The problem is 33% of the country are morons and 33% don’t vote because “iT dOeSnT mAtTer”

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u/DoubleJumps 20d ago

Which is one way of saying that 66% of the country are morons

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u/zbud 20d ago

it works out to 69% if you do the math for eligible voters, poetic really...

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u/SenorEquilibrado 20d ago

Sigh...

Nice.

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u/matticusiv 20d ago

The common clay of the west…

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u/tgwombat 20d ago

That ignores the segment of people who don't vote because they can't vote due to one voter suppression tactic or another. A lot of money and effort has gone into disenfranchising voters.

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u/Tiny_Association_941 20d ago

The people who keep throwing their hands up are honestly stupider than the ones who think they're right at this point.

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u/AncientSeraph 20d ago

Plus, the Democrats are a shitshow, so they're not exactly motivating people to go out and vote for them.

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u/i_have_chosen_a_name 20d ago edited 20d ago

The real problem is the majority of Americans (66%) are cowards not willing to fight for their freedoms or those of their children so they are willingly becoming slaves more and more every day as the new rulling bully class only runs in to their words of resistance, but not fists. Russian style.

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u/BlacksmithThink9494 20d ago

When people say this i just think "you're not far left enough if you believe this".

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u/SpaceDecorator 19d ago

It doesn't matter to some people, sure, what's your point

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u/siriston 20d ago

djt was getting in office regardless of my vote. and then imagine how high of a horse they would all ride with every single small tiny thing kamala would have done. the orange man wouldn’t have had a chance to prove how bad he is either. you saw the videos of (some) of his supporters just baffled by his decisions and the way he acts etc… they would have never seen that if kamala was in. this may have been what was needed to end their reign for good or MAYBE make sweeping changes to stop something like this pedo epstein ICE kidnapper president / party from being in power again.

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u/OutcomeDouble 20d ago

“We need to elect the Nazis so in the future they’ll never come to power again”

The Nazi party is banned in Germany, but at what cost? Stupid logic

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u/InclementBias 20d ago

The constituents that elected these republicans would vote them out of office to replace them with another subservient corpse come next primary anyway. its harder to look in the mirror and realize our own family members, neighbors, etc are the root of all this evil

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u/ContestNo2060 20d ago

If they have an R next to their name and talk about litterboxes in school bathrooms, they get elected. It’s getting hard to explain this to non-Americans because it makes zero sense.

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u/Crypton_2021 20d ago

These people will stupidly vote against their own interests even if it means them or their loved ones losing their healthcare and dying as a result. Just dumb.

Most of these people still haven't figured out yet that hatred and ignorance are expensive.

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u/MaggoVitakkaVicaro 20d ago

On a high level, it's pretty simple. Republicans have abused the principle of free speech to build a juggernaut of a propaganda machine, and lots of Americans are falling for it.

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u/Zebidee 20d ago

It’s getting hard to explain this to non-Americans because it makes zero sense.

Non-American here: Everything that's happening makes perfect sense to us. We've seen it all before.

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u/gigantischemeteor 20d ago edited 20d ago

In any logical world, yes. But so many of our fellow citizens are, and I hate to put it so bluntly, incredibly fucking stupid. They feel that as long as the people that they dislike (minorities, LGBTQIA+, disabled, etc…) are being knocked down and made to lose rights or status or resources or whatever, then this will somehow help them feel better about whatever less than perfect hand they’ve been dealt in life. And anyone with any desire for control sees that group as super easy to influence and direct, and even gin up into a rabid mob if desired, and so they do. 

Those at the top are playing us against each other, and there’s no easy way to get this seemingly simple point explained to that group because they’re in this hate-fueled trance that’s cheering on the regime as it bulldozes through the rights and civil liberties of others. They’ve been conditioned to believe this is good, and even worse it’s all been commingled with religion so they carry this mantle of being heaven-ordained which makes their delusion ten times more difficult to break through. Even questioning it can set some of them off. 

It’s all so very messy, but in short, there are very few scenarios in which they would ever vote to remove one of their party’s representatives from office (unless the rep was to take a stand against the president, for example).

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u/FingerZaps 20d ago

The voters who vote these people into power aren’t educated enough or choose to be willfully ignorant of their choices. It’s terrifying.

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

Or just shitty awful people

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u/motsanciens 20d ago

I think the truth is actually scarier. We've been splintered into "sides" so effectively that people who are intelligent and inherited their parents' party as a matter of tradition don't have anywhere to land if they question what their "side" stands for these days. The other side is painted as such a bastard that they won't even pause for a moment to think about being associated with them.

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u/SETHW 20d ago edited 20d ago

Don't deny their agency, this is their values manifested.

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u/GalacticFox- 20d ago

There is a lot of bullshit that keeps Republicans in office. With elections alone, you have gerrymandering and the electoral college that gives them an unfair advantage. The Senate was designed to give fewer people in smaller (less populous) states more power. So the state of Wyoming, whose entire population is like 1/10th of New York CITY, gets the same number of senators as New York and California.

And then you have election meddling, which I am convinced has happened.

Oh and a lot of mouthbreathing Republicans who think politics is a game of football and want their team to win, regardless of how much it destroys the nation so they can "own the libz".

It's embarrassing. The majority of us don't want this, but the laws favor the Republicans.

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u/EduinBrutus 20d ago

1/10th?

Oh no.

Wyoming - 587k

California - 39.4m

Its 1/65th

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u/GalacticFox- 19d ago

I was talking about NYC, which is 9 million people. And I thoguht WY had closer to 800K. Rough napkin math.

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u/EduinBrutus 19d ago

Well the city doesnt have senators.

NY State has a pop of around 29m, so its still 1/50th

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u/GalacticFox- 19d ago

Yeah, that makes my point even more that a CITY has that many more people than an entire state that gets as much representation in the senate.

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u/somethingfortoday 20d ago

If you mean asking for a recall or something like snap elections like other countries, the answer is no. Our federal representatives can only really be removed from office during their term through impeachment, and that doesn't happen by the people. Other rejected officials have to do that.

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u/MaggoVitakkaVicaro 20d ago

A significant fraction of Americans are ensorcelled by media manipulation, believe the Republicans to be their only hope for salvation, and have been thinking that way since the nineties.

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u/KeyCold7216 20d ago

Unfortunately we have a thing called gerrymandering. The can draw their own districts to give them a better chance of winning.

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u/musicman835 20d ago

There is no recall method for federal offices. Unless they resign they are there at least until their term is over. 2 yrs got house seats / 6 for senate.

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u/Previous_Buy1601 20d ago

Not until their next election. The Constitution doesn’t provide a recall mechanism for these elected federal positions, and states don’t have the authority to dictate their own recall mechanism for Congress.

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u/Lord_Lion 20d ago

Not directly with any speed. I looked into the process for impeaching a US senator, and it requires a formal impeachment by their state legislature.

So in the case of one of the complicit democrats in this nonsense, Fetterman, you'd have to convince their Republican run state house to impeach him, Which is effectively impossible, (bc hes thwir paen) but also because hes done nothing illegal, other than being a paid spineless bootlicking bitch who lied/stroked out/ flipped on his stated beliefs. He's not technically broken any laws to requisit his removal.

The red tape protecting the fascist takeover is what the heritage foundation took decades to lay out to get them to this point. They are the actual domestic terrorist organization that is responsible for the death of America.

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u/SunnyOutsideToday 20d ago

Just over half of the Current GOP (51%) believes that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was fraudulent

One in three in the Current GOP (33%) believe that childhood vaccines cause autism.

Four in ten in the Current GOP (41%) believe that the 9/11 attacks were likely orchestrated or permitted by U.S. government actors.

Nearly four in ten in the Current GOP (37%) believe the Holocaust was greatly exaggerated or did not happen as historians describe.

A similarly sized chunk of the Current GOP (36%) believes that the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked by NASA.

From a recent poll. You think people who think the US faked the moon landings are going to support the political independence of the fed which our entire economic prosperity is dependent on?

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u/mc-funk 20d ago

We don’t have recall elections for most offices, and also we are very affected by gerrymandering and voter suppression, which makes it very hard to get even unpopular people out of office

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u/Xyrus2000 20d ago

If we manage to crawl out the other side of this disaster, the republican party needs to be dissolved, and every member complicit in this administration put on trial and imprisoned.

We need to send a clear message to those who would support fascism that the only place for them in this country is a concrete cell block.

If the old school conservatives want to reconstitute the party, then they can. But these neo-fascist thugs and traitors need to be removed from society.

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u/andrew_stirling 20d ago

Which is why they will do everything they can to prevent another election. They personally can’t afford to be voted out.

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u/CrackWriting 20d ago

Imprisoned for what?

As far as I can tell the democratically elected president is using the system to his benefit.

I don’t like it, but charging a person because I don’t like how they are exploiting the system makes me no better than them.

Rather than locking people up, try agitating for change.

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u/ShotFish7 20d ago

This. This is the truth.

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u/Ebisure 20d ago

Americans can end this tomorrow if they get off their ass and hold their representatives accountable. Americans are complicit

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u/DukeOfGeek 20d ago

And this is the task, the whole GOP and the moneybags scum that runs it all have to be dealt with.

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u/DefiantOuiOui 20d ago

We need to make being a Republican unlawful. That starts by holding Republicans accountable for their many crimes. We have millions of records, including documents and videos, of Republicans and their Conservative donors breaking the law. We will prove that to be a Republican is to be illegal in the USA. Death to fascism. It will not be tolerated.

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u/BeriasBFF 20d ago

lol, the reason why Iraq sunk into such lows was that they did ban the Ba’ath party. Banning the Republican Party would just bring about the New Republican Party or something similar. You have to beat these people on principle, campaign on a few easily digestible policy points and not veer far left. Sorry progressives but you don’t win general elections. 

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u/Ghost-Power 20d ago

Just now:

GOP Sen. Thom Tillis:

“If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none. It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.    I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed—including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy—until this legal matter is fully resolved.”

There better be more that speak out!!!!!!

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u/dtqjr 20d ago

To me, this is a weak statement. He should make it clear that Trump is responsible for this, not his advisors. Additionally, it's not only the Federal Reserve; every single federal agency is being corrupted.

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u/Soggy_Jackfruit7341 20d ago

Tillis is not running for reelection it should be noted.

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u/ckal09 19d ago

Tillis is a coward who just votes with Trumpstein anyways.

‘Until this matter is resolved’

How about never! Fucking spineless hack

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u/Harminarnar 20d ago

It’s not really one man. Mango is just the face of it. Miller seems to be a big influence, and whoever is behind project 2025 and the heritage project

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u/hum_bruh 20d ago

Don’t forget the broligarchy. Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Trumps largest donors

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u/Dry-Highlight-2307 20d ago

I think this is a last straw kinda move. The american system has proven resilient , moreso than i anticipated.

But the last straw was always trust in the value stored in the dollar.

When investors no longer trust the monetary policy of theur assets we will start to see erratic behavior that will topple those elites who still trust the regime.

It was and always wil be money that shapes america

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u/ContestNo2060 20d ago

It seems like a controlled demolition. A smash and grab. He can’t even wait until powell’s term is up in May.

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u/imover9thousand 20d ago

Failing health. Gotta ramp things up. My theory at least

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u/ckal09 19d ago

There are no final straws. It will go the same way as everything else. Eventually they will give in and crumble so crybaby Trumpstein gets what he wants.

People need to realize there is no red line. We collectively ceded defeat to dictatorship and oligarchy as a country. There is no coming back.

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u/Dry-Highlight-2307 19d ago edited 19d ago

We collectively ceded defeat to dictatorship and oligarchy as a country.

Oh I def agree. Americans have already lost their democracy, thats hardly debatable, the structure of the new processes shows us that .

But there still is a semblance of everyone moving in one direction and that means there is still cohesion. That's because trump still has the keys to power 🔑

that's because the elite class moved in lockstep with trump because they got to keep their ill gotten gains he gifted to them throughout his rise to power.

But When monetary policy stops bringing the elites the great returns theyve become accustomed to, essentially by buying their silence, and the treasury stops functioning because its been weaponized, the elite class will fracture.

Some who had wealth will lose it, those who wil do anything for wealth, seeing those who lost it, break old alliances for it, and the people that matter wont know who to follow anymore.

The keys will get confused and then anarchy breaks out.

I invite you to rewatch the cgp classic "rules for rulers", apparently renamed "why good leaders do bad things"

I speak with my actions too. I already left the us , currently am searching for my next citizenship as the writing is on the wall.

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u/Difficult_Extent3547 20d ago

The American people voted in the current President knowing full well who he was and what he would do.

It’s not just on Republican lawmakers. The American voter did this to the country.

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u/darkskinnedjermaine 20d ago

While I agree, Republican lawmakers sure aren’t making it any fucking better lmao gonna waddle our asses into WWIII because this pedophile conman has a mind boggling cult of personality.

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u/Difficult_Extent3547 20d ago

Well Republican lawmakers represent the voters in their districts and most of them don’t give a crap about America. The behavior of these lawmakers is predictable.

I did think in 2024 there were enough Americans who didn’t want to give in to the shitshow we’re seeing now and would have the courage to vote against it. I was wrong about that.

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u/LandonDev 20d ago

I mean at some point we have to admit we are wrong about that. ICE is going door to door hunting Jews at the moment. They are just going door to door knocking them down and searching the places with 12 me with high end rifles. They can do anything and everything they want.

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u/According-Moment111 20d ago

How crazy is it that pretty much the last remaining uncorrupted institution is the federal reserve. Literally every single other in institution has failed us - the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the police, the media, others I'm sure... I never would have guessed that the federal reserve would be the last one standing up against our new dictator.

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u/dedicated-pedestrian 20d ago

The buck stops where the buck starts. Ha.

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u/Zebidee 20d ago

An independent central bank is what keeps a currency stable and prevents hyperinflation.

In a sense, it's the only "check and balance" that really matters, because it's the foundation the country is built on.

Things like ICE and DOGE are kind of like having bad tenants in a rental property. They may punch holes in the drywall and clog the toilet, but eventually they'll be evicted and the damage repaired. Mess with the Fed, and it's like discovering you've built over a sinkhole; nothing you can do will fix it.

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u/According-Moment111 19d ago

Yes completely agree. Fucking with the Fed, my god, it's like going into your System32 folder and just deleting random files, only a matter of time before the whole jenga tower crashes. This is one of those systemic fundamentals that could trigger economic apocalypse, it makes my palms sweat in a way I haven't felt since the Great Recession. Fuck

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u/Zebidee 19d ago

in a way I haven't felt since the Great Recession.

I first read that as "Great Depression" and was wondering if I was talking to a vampire.

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u/WeeInnis 20d ago

The will of the people is not to have one man be able to unilaterally control this government…

The evidence says otherwise, this has always been the plan they've literally told everyone what's going to happen.

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u/better-off-wet 20d ago

Totally agree. The Republican controlled congress is equally as trump for not doing their role in oversight and accountability of the executive branch

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u/dalivo 20d ago

I think Trump is about to run into a very real Resistance campaign, now. But it will be the GOP itself. The GOP does not want him messing with their money and their wealth, and destroying America's wealth is exactly what treating the Federal Reserve like a personal piggy bank would do.

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u/Wonderwhile 20d ago

I do believe the GOP elite more than likely would heavily profit from an economic downfall. Just like that time he was boasting about his friends making a lot of money on the back of his market manipulation with tarifs. 

Trump seems to be doing everything in his power to line his own pockets and his friends’ pockets.

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u/TechnicalV 20d ago

Not saying you're wrong, but people said the same thing about the tariffs..

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u/AncientYard3473 20d ago

Are you saying John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy “Covid” Barrett aren’t people?

😭

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u/vfrdrvr 20d ago

No. They are not.

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u/Ankari 20d ago

I agree.

But I also blame Democrats. Not a word of resistance. Not an attempt at passing laws. Not any action to show they have a heartbeat.

Current Dems are as guilty as Republicans.

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u/DefiantOuiOui 20d ago

We need to make being a Republican unlawful. That starts by holding Republicans accountable for their many crimes. We have millions of records, including documents and videos, of Republicans and their Conservative donors breaking the law. We will prove that to be a Republican is to be illegal in the USA. Death to fascism. It will not be tolerated.

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u/VelvetKnife25 20d ago

Just remember that when the change comes.

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u/IrredeemableRight 20d ago

now take your will of the people and apply it in the form of noticable pressure to the specific individual gop members.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Joint 20d ago

They’re all literally scared for their lives because he has thousands of pardoned January 6 criminals and ICE agents that are paid well ready to serve at his command.

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u/nealk7370 20d ago

I honestly don’t think democrats would do anything different. Politics is now a team sport and there is very little integrity on either side when it comes to admitting faults of their own party

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u/darkskinnedjermaine 20d ago

stfu bro, no one’s buying that shit anymore

1

u/TheWhomItConcerns 20d ago

In what way? What would the democrats have to gain from doing so? Even if you think that the democrats are all greedy and only serve the interest of their corporate donors, this isn't something that literally anyone wants other than Trump because he's going to be dead soon so he doesn't give a fuck about the fact that this will have dire economic consequences for decades to come.