A new low

One of the most insidious aspects of the Trump era is how quickly the public gets used to what should be unacceptable scenarios — such as the use of federal criminal prosecutions for political retribution.

Having already watched as Trump's Justice Department launched baseless, vengeful criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, it's tempting for Trump's supporters and opponents alike to shrug at the newly revealed criminal investigation against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as just more of the same.

It's not; it's worse. This time, it's less a tantrum driven by retribution than a calculated attempt to expand presidential power in ways it shouldn't be expanded. Trump wants the Fed, an independent entity, to lower interest rates, and his administration is holding Powell's feet to the fire with the threat of a personal criminal prosecution to make that happen. Period.

Former President Joe Biden and other Democrats did engage in "lawfare" against Trump in the four years between his two terms. Trump was criminally charged because of his own criminal or allegedly criminal acts. These included falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments to a porn star (convicted on 34 counts), as well as more serious cases of election interference and obstruction of justice related to classified documents that had to be dropped upon his return to office.

The Trump administration's prosecutions of Comey and James, conversely, were clearly baseless attempts at vengeance against both of them for doing their jobs, by a president who views the Justice Department as his own personal police force. Trump's constant social-media bellowing against his targets and his removal of prosecutors who declined to do his bidding made that much clear. He was barely even pretending those cases were about anything but retribution.

What makes the move against Powell so much more dangerous is that, this time, the criminal justice system is being weaponized not to punish a critic or a political adversary — that's dangerous enough — but to gain control over what is supposed to be an independent governmental entity.

It's understandable for any president to want interest rates to be as low as possible. Low rates make regular Americans happy when they buy houses or cars or use their credit cards. But the lowest possible rates aren't always the best scenario for the broader economy. That's why the Fed is structured as an independent agency, out of reach of presidential politics.

As this president has demonstrated, he can't stand not having full control over every aspect of the federal government. That is the obvious explanation for the extraordinary and seemingly unwarranted criminal probe against Powell for supposedly misleading Congress about cost overruns in a renovation project at the Fed's headquarters.

Trump has routinely expressed his anger at Powell for not lowering interest rates to his liking, but the administration claims Trump didn't direct federal investigators to target Powell.

Powell has long been notably careful about not publicly criticizing Trump, but in this case, he apparently understood that diplomacy is no longer in order.

"The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president," Powell said in a video statement. "This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions — or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation."

Kudos to Powell for standing up to that thuggish intimidation. Even if Trump were the economic genius he thinks he is (his destructive tariff policies alone debunk that), the nation's economic levers must never be subject to the political needs and whims of any president.

An editorial from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.