Today, after months of efforts to oust Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and undermine the independence of the central bank, Donald Trump completed his game show-style competition and announced his choice for the next chair: Kevin Warsh. 

Warsh’s nomination comes as Trump’s economy continues to take a nosedive and Americans become increasingly fed up with rising costs and disappearing jobs. Trump has tried to deflect blame for his failing economy by making Powell a scapegoat, receiving blowback even from his own party. With Warsh, Trump is aiming to install an acolyte at the central bank, which could lead to further financial destabilization at the expense of working families. 

DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump knows that Americans are souring on his economy. His solution is to grab more political power by installing a puppet, Kevin Warsh, as the head of the country’s independent central bank, risking the country’s financial stability and putting Americans’ hard-earned savings at risk. Warsh is so desperate to be Fed chair that he’s willing to say or do anything to please Trump, abandoning his previous positions and reinventing himself in Trump’s image. Trump is desperately grabbing for more power and putting our economy at even graver risk in the process.” 

Warsh, a Fed governor during the 2008 financial crisis, has been campaigning for Fed chair for a decade. He seized his opportunity when Trump re-entered office, reinventing himself as a Trump acolyte, calling Trump’s presidency “the most transformative time in American economic history in a very long time.” 

Warsh has abandoned his long-held positions on key monetary issues to align with Trump and make himself the perfect fit for Trump’s Fed chair:  

• Fed Independence: Back in 2017, analysts said they did not believe Warsh would put politics before the Fed’s reputation for independence. But as soon as it became clear that Trump was interested in a new Fed chair, Warsh changed his position, saying that the Fed’s independence was limited. 
• Interest Rates: When he was a Fed governor from 2006-2011, Warsh called for higher interest rates even in the depths of the Great Recession. In 2025, Warsh suddenly became an enthusiastic champion for the Fed lowering interest rates at the same time that Trump’s demands for the Fed to dramatically lower rates reached a fever pitch. 
• Free Trade: As an advisor to George W. Bush, Warsh was a cheerleader for unrestricted free trade. He cautioned America to “resist the rising tide of economic protectionism and recognize the job-creating benefits of our pending free trade agreements.” Then he flip-flopped. Last year, Warsh argued that Trump’s tariffs would be “immaterial” and just a “one-time charge in prices,” denying evidence of their inflationary impact.

Economists and analysts have warned for years that Warsh would put politics above policy, criticizing him as an “operator” who is “wrong about just about everything.” Warsh also has deep ties to Wall Street and big billionaires and corporations. Before the financial crisis, Warsh championed “wall street innovation” and “credit securitization,” which nearly dismantled the global financial system after the U.S. housing market collapsed in 2008. He also advocated for limiting banking supervision. Warsh’s history of supporting financial deregulation dovetails with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s push to prioritize Wall Street and Big Banks’ interests at the risk of undermining the stability of the U.S. financial system, risking Americans’ hard-earned retirement accounts and the health of Main Street.