Less than a week after President Donald Trump declared that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s termination “cannot come fast enough!,” the president again took to social media Monday to lambast the Fed chair’s delay in lowering interest rates.
Calling Powell a “major loser” in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump claimed “there can be a SLOWING of the economy” unless Powell “lowers interest rates, NOW.”
Investors took notice of Trump’s premarket outburst, with the S&P 500 index down as much as 3.4% during intraday trading.
Trump’s social media pronouncements to the masses have had an outsized ability to move markets. In terms of communicating directly to the public, he’s surpassed in this regard perhaps only by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose first “fireside chat” radio address in 1933 during the Great Depression — which assured the public that only financially secure banks would be allowed to reopen — was credited with spurring the largest one-day percentage price increase in stock market history.
But Trump is unique among modern presidents in his embrace of social media, and his strategy of governance by social media appears to have rubbed off on other federal leaders — including Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
Pulte, who was confirmed by the Senate on March 13, kicked off his tenure as FHFA director by asking his followers on X (formerly known as Twitter), “You didn’t really think I’d stop tweeting did you?” He followed it up with a March 15 post vowing to “Make Mortgages Great Again” — a nod to Trump’s famous campaign slogan.
Since then, Pulte has posted about topics ranging from return-to-office policies at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the announcement that Fannie fired more than 100 employees for alleged unethical conduct. He even rescinded a series of Biden administration housing policies via photographs of paper orders posted on X in lieu of a formal press release.
On Monday, Pulte wrote on X that the FHFA, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, does not foresee “any more executive leadership changes” at the mortgage giants. Shortly after taking office, Pulte ousted 14 board members at Fannie and Freddie and installed himself as chairman of both boards. A few days later, he fired Freddie Mac CEO Diana Reid.
Last week, Pulte announced that the FHFA would be establishing an anonymous tip line where the public can “submit tips on anyone fraudulently filling out mortgage apps.” A day later, he posted the website address of the agency’s fraud tips service.
Pulte also posted on X last week that the FHFA, Fannie and Freddie are “evaluating ways to ‘recall loans’ that have been obtained fraudulently.” He did not elaborate.
