For the umpteenth time of this presidency (not to mention his entire career as commander in chief), Donald Trump has beckoned the Federal Reserve to slash the federal funds rate, evidently out of fear that current monetary policy will obstruct his imminent imposition of widespread tariffs. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who has publicly lamented his failure to stop the inflation wrought by Bidenomics once already, has said the central bank will maintain its independence. And frankly, Trump should be thankful, as the Fed is currently insulating his second term in office from an even worse rebound of the inflationary crisis created by his predecessor.

Consumer price index inflation rose by half a percentage point in January alone, three times the Fed’s annualized inflation target of 2%. While defenders of Bidenomics will blame much of the price instability on the 15% monthly increase in egg prices resulting from the bird flu epidemic, another crisis that former President Joe Biden allowed to spiral out of control, core CPI inflation rose to an eight-month high. Core services CPI, which reflects the stickier fundamentals of inflation, is up 4.3% over the year, more than twice the Fed’s target.