Donald Trump, now serving as POTUS47, appears to be actively disrupting and nullifying core functions of the U.S. government. His actions—from imposing sweeping new tariffs to undermining the Federal Reserve—are not subtle economic strategies. They are signs of deliberate destabilization.
Former Trump adviser John Bolton—whom POTUS45 Trump once dismissed as “crazy” for wanting to bomb Iran (before Trump ultimately and recently did just that)—recently said on Fareed Zakaria on 7/6/2025:
“Trump doesn’t follow strategy or policy. What he does in any given moment is always up in the air. His decisions are like a vast archipelago of dots—you can try to connect them, but he can’t.”
In his latest move, Trump is once again pressuring the Federal Reserve, aiming to replace Chair Jerome Powell with what some are calling a “shadow” Fed chair—someone more loyal to Trump than to data or law.
This follows a long-standing pattern. Trump has attacked nearly every independent institution: the DOJ, FBI, courts, intelligence agencies, the press—and now, monetary policy itself. Why? Because independence is inconvenient to authoritarianism.
Worse still, his proposed economic agenda all but guarantees rising inflation. His new tariffs would disrupt supply chains, raise prices, and strain the global trade system. These are not economic solutions—they’re pressure points. The consequences fall not on the wealthy or well-connected, but on everyday Americans: higher costs, fewer options, greater insecurity.
So it begs the question:
Why would a sitting president want the U.S. broken and economically destabilized?
Because chaos serves his narrative. When systems fail, Trump claims only he can fix them. When prices rise, he blames others—Biden, immigrants, globalists, the Fed. Meanwhile, he centralizes more power, installs loyalists, and makes democratic resistance harder with every move.
Authoritarians don’t need prosperity. They need fear, resentment, and confusion. Inflation and instability help with all three.
And so I ask, not rhetorically:
Am I wrong in what I’m seeing? Or is this exactly the playbook?
💥 1. Authoritarian Playbook: Create Crisis, Consolidate Power
Authoritarian leaders often destabilize institutions—including central banks—to shift blame, weaken checks and balances, and centralize control. Trump’s antagonism toward the Fed echoes this tactic. By painting Powell as an obstacle and threatening to install a “shadow” Fed chair, he undermines the Fed’s independence, which is a cornerstone of monetary stability.
If the economy falters, he can claim:
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“The deep state” is sabotaging him.
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Only he can fix it—again.
💸 2. Inflation Can Help Certain Narratives
High inflation typically hurts working- and middle-class Americans—but it can:
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Fuel resentment and populist anger.
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Undermine confidence in institutions.
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Be blamed on political enemies, immigrants, or globalists.
It’s easier to stoke division and redirect blame in a chaotic economy than in a stable one. That’s political capital for Trump.
📈 3. Tariffs as Political Theater, Not Economic Strategy
Trump’s tariffs on allies and adversaries alike do little to protect American industry and often raise consumer prices. Economists nearly universally agree that his tariffs:
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Disrupt supply chains,
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Increase costs for U.S. businesses and families,
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Risk global trade retaliation.
But for Trump, tariffs sound tough and rally his base. The economic damage becomes secondary to the optics of strength.
🎩 4. The Shadow Fed Chair: Loyalty Over Competence
The suggestion of a “shadow” Fed chair is deeply concerning. Trump wants someone who will:
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Lower rates regardless of inflation risk (to juice the economy in the short term),
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Follow his political whims instead of data,
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Undermine Powell publicly to damage confidence in the Fed.
This is a power grab, plain and simple.
🧨 5. He’s Always Sought to Break the System
Trump has made a political career out of undermining trust in norms:
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The press,
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The courts,
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The FBI and DOJ,
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The election system,
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Now the Federal Reserve.
A broken system makes democracy look ineffective—which helps him argue for something else: a strongman, a movement, a new order. One centered around him.
🤔 So Why Would He Want the U.S. Broken?
Because a weakened, confused, divided, and economically stressed America is easier to manipulate. It lets him:
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Blame others for pain he caused,
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Claim unique power to fix it,
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Push radical changes while people are too overwhelmed to resist,
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Punish dissenters, including in supposedly independent institutions like the Fed.
The Time to Name It Is Now
This is no longer about left or right, conservative or liberal. It’s about whether we allow the deliberate dismantling of democratic governance to continue unchecked. We are watching a slow-motion crisis unfold, masked as policy, cloaked in spectacle, and sold as strength.
We can’t afford to normalize this. Not the tariffs designed to hurt, not the attacks on institutional independence, not the power grabs disguised as reform.
If we wait until the damage is undeniable, it may already be irreversible.
Call it what it is. Speak out. Share facts. Organize. Vote.
History will not be kind to those who saw the fire and chose to warm themselves by it.
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