For Donald Trump, the truth, more often than not, is beside the point. So powerful is the US president, and so accustomed are his interlocutors to his casual relationship with facts, that he is rarely challenge as he makes his long and rambling public pronouncements. So it was refreshing to see Jerome Powell, the chair of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve Board, shake his head and publicly correct the record in real time as he stood alongside the president at an event on Thursday.
The backdrop was a lengthy campaign by Trump to force the Fed to lower interest rates and his outspoken attempts to try to get Powell to quit. As part of this campaign, the administration has weaponised a renovation programme at the Fed, which it claims is running way over budget.
Standing beside Powell in his hard hat, Trump theatrically produced a piece of paper which he said showed that the $2.7 billion bill was now set to be $3.1 billion. Powell calmly studied the note and pointed out that this included the cost of another building that was already completed. “It’s a building that’s being built, “ Trump responded. “No, it was built five years ago,” said Powell.
The exchange underlined how seldom Trump’s “facts” are challenged in public by those around him. Everyone wants to humour the unpredictable president. The irony is complete when he publishes posts on his “Truth Social” channel, a name which carries echoes of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984.
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World leaders face the same dilemma as Powell did when they stand beside Trump. Most choose to grin and bear it. This is what the EU appears to have done in trade talks with the US, as they face Trump’s chaotic mixture of fact and fiction. As the talks come to another crunch – and with the need for support on the Ukraine war in the background – the EU may concede Trump’s call for 15 per cent tariffs.
When you lead the world’s biggest economic and military power, sometimes you get to choose your own facts. A quiet-spoken bureaucrat just gave the world a lesson in how best to respond.
