Offers You’d Better Not Refuse

Cato Daily Podcast

Cato Institute

Politics, Unknown, News Commentary, 424708, Libertarian, Markets, Cato, News, Immigration, Peace, Policy, Government, Defense

4.6 • 949 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, President Trump ramped up pressure on two favorite targets: elite universities and Fed Chair Jerome Powell. In the “War on Woke U,” the administration landed a $50 million settlement from Brown—the third Ivy to cut a deal—and added Duke and UCLA to the hit list with new civil rights probes and a funding cutoff. Meanwhile, after the Fed held rates steady, Trump escalated his campaign to oust Powell, denouncing him as a “stubborn MORON” on Truth Social.

In this episode, Cato scholars break down the Art of the Forcible Deal. What risks do Trump’s pressure tactics pose for monetary stability? Will they reform broken institutions—or just deepen their politicization? And is Trump’s strongarm approach an aberration, or a preview of the modern presidency’s future?

Featuring Gene Healy, Ryan Bourne, Emily Ekins, and Jeffrey Miron

Show Notes:

David Beckworth, “The Consolidated Government Budget Constraint Does Not Care About Your Fed Independence Feelings,” Substack (July 25, 2025)
Ryan Bourne, “A Case for Federal Deficit Reduction,” Cato Policy Analysis no. 973 (April 18, 2024)
Michael Chapman, “A Win for Liberty: Congress Defunds CPB, NPR, and PBS,” Cato@Liberty (July 23, 2025)
Jeffrey A. Miron and Jacob P. Winter, “Giving Up Federal Funds Would Do Harvard Good,” Harvard Crimson (April 30, 2025)
Norbert Michel and Jai Kedia, “A Check-In on the Fed: Why Politically Motivated Monetary Policy Is Dangerous and Counterproductive,” Cato Video (July 22, 2025)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Jerome Too Late Powell, a stubborn moron, must substantially lower interest rates now.
0:06.3	If he continues to refuse, the board should assume control and do what everyone knows has to be done.
0:12.5	In that accent, it almost sounds cordial.
0:14.9	I know, it sounds different with the accent, Ryan.
0:18.7	Welcome to the Cato podcast. I'm Gene Healy, senior VP for policy. I'm here with Ryan Bourne, who holds the sharp chair for the public understanding of economics at Cato.
0:29.6	Hi, Gene. Hi. We're joined today by two of our colleagues, Emily Eakins, plums the depths of American public opinion as Cato's director
0:39.2	of polling. And coming to us from Cambridge Mass is Jeff Myron, the rarest of birds, a Harvard
0:46.4	professor who's also an honest-to-god libertarian. Let's get right to it. Last week, President
0:53.5	Trump ramped up pressure on two of his favorite targets, elite universities, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
1:01.3	The administration has been using federal funds as leverage to stamp out DEI and force crackdowns on campus anti-Semitism.
1:14.2	Brown University became the third Ivy to settle last week, and the administration has added Duke and UCLA to the hit list. Meanwhile, Trump has been
1:22.4	making noise for a while about firing Powell. And last Wednesday when the Fed refused to lower rates,
1:30.1	Trump went into a very public rage spiral.
1:33.6	Let's start with that, Ryan.
1:36.2	Jerome Too Late Powell, a stubborn moron,
1:39.5	must substantially lower interest rates now.
1:42.4	If he continues to refuse, the board should assume control
1:45.5	and do what everyone knows has to be done. In that accent, it almost sounds cordial.
1:52.1	I know. It sounds different with the accent. That was one of the president's many truths.
1:56.8	That's his post on his truth social account last week against the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, as Gene described after the committee's decision last week.
2:07.1	Trump has argued that inflation is gone, tariffs are working and the economy is strong, but power, by holding rates higher than they should be, is risking a slowdown in the near future.
2:17.0	And in the president's words,
	...

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