Nick Timiraos

It did the opposite of what it may have been intended to do if it was trying to push him out.

It told him, there's a storm outside the building right now.

You cannot, in good conscience, leave now.

This is about occupying a seat

It all comes down to the Fed's Board of Governors.

You know, Powell said he wants to have a low profile.

And there was this funny moment where Powell was asked by one of my colleagues.

And Powell did this sort of physical comedy.

He lowered his body to lower his physical profile.

Exactly.

And everybody laughed.

But it speaks to how almost impossible it would be for Powell to have a low profile.

It is going to be awkward.

It is going to be an awkward setup because Kevin Warsh got the job after a fairly pointed public campaign highlighting all the ways he believed the Fed had screwed up under Powell.

And now the person he criticized is going to be sitting at the same table while he leads them through these discussions.

You know, the math on the Fed board is there are seven governors.

And then there's Jay Powell.

If Powell leaves, that seventh seat opens up.

You've got an administration that has shown it will use the courts, the Justice Department, any other levers it can to try to control who sits in those seats because those are the people who set interest rates.

And so for Powell, he's not staying to secure a particular policy for interest rates or bank regulation.