Nick Timiraos

By the end of the year, Trump hated it.

And in December, amid a market sell-off, Trump was talking about firing him.

The law says you can only remove a Fed governor for cause.

You can't just fire them because you don't like how they're voting on interest rates.

And then, of course, came March of 2020.

The pandemic hits and the Fed was thrust into this role as a first responder.

A lot of people in markets will tell you that was really the high point of the Powell Fed.

He was widely credited with not just saving the economy, but avoiding much worse outcomes.

2021 is where the mistakes start to compound.

The Fed keeps saying this is transitory.

Remember, inflation being transitory.

The idea there is that these bottlenecks will sort themselves out.

But they didn't.

They did not.

And by the end of 2021, they realize they've gotten it wrong.

They raise rates rapidly.

Fastest increases in four decades.

It made the institution more vulnerable.

It left the Fed politically exposed.

Politically exposed.