Activist Judges, Bureaucracy Are Fighting a Losing Battle

 by Larry Kudlow

According to sources, a stern President Trump took the Fed head, Jay Powell, to the woodshed yesterday during their Oval Office meeting.

Mr. Trump wants the Fed to lower its target rate. And equally, of course, Mr. Powell has stubbornly avoided any policy changes.

You know what? Mr. Trump is right.

The latest inflation report out today shows the Fed’s favorite measure, the personal consumption deflator, has risen only 2.1 percent annually over the past three months, and the same 2.1 percent over the past 12 months.

The Fed’s target is 2 percent.

So, you would think Mr. Powell & Co. would at least be publicly suggesting that they have made it to home plate.

And it sure makes you wonder about the Fed’s jumbo rate cut more than six months ago, when the inflation rate was almost a full percentage point higher than it is today.

Commodity indicators have softened significantly — Mr. Trump is right about that, too.

And, by the way, if anybody cares, the money supply has been quiescent for quite some time.

Here’s another point: Mr. Trump’s tariff diplomacy for reciprocal free and fair trade, and his battle to open up markets for American business exports is basically going to be on hold for a while — as a result of activist judges that seem determined to stand in the president’s way.

Mr. Trump has been battling unfair trading practices for a long time.

The world trading system has been broken for more than three decades.

Important trading partners, especially Communist China, have huge tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Yet these activist judges, who have interfered with so many Trumpian policies to drain the swamp, are now robbing him — and the American people — of important leverage to even the playing field and promote American prosperity, especially the working class coalition that backed him.

So, on the one hand, we’ve got a bunch of monetary judges at the Fed standing in Mr. Trump’s way — and a bunch of all-around activist judges standing in Mr. Trump’s way on trade and just about everything else.

He is the chief executive.

On November 5 the country gave him a resounding ‘yes’ for his policy mandates for change.

Mr. Trump wants a golden age of economic growth.

Just like Ronald Reagan, Mr. Trump wants a rising tide to lift all boats.

Rest assured, no matter what roadblocks are thrown his way, Mr. Trump will just keep on fighting — for American greatness — just like Reagan did.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2025/05/31/activist_bureaucracy_will_lose_fight_to_stop_trumps_golden_age_152865.html