3 Crucial Insights Into Trump’s Controversial Fed Nominee – What You’re Not Being Told

Trump’s latest Fed pick shakes Washington—here’s why Wall Street is either cheering or sweating bullets.

1. The Nominee’s Radical Monetary Playbook

Expect fireworks—this isn’t your grandpa’s central banker. Leaked memos suggest a hard pivot toward politicized rate cuts, sparking fears of 1970s-style inflation déjà vu.

2. The Crypto Wildcard

Rumored to privately endorse Bitcoin as ‘anti-fiat rebellion,’ the nominee could accidentally become crypto’s most powerful ally—or its most chaotic regulator. Traders are already betting on volatility.

3. Confirmation Bloodbath Ahead

Senate Democrats are sharpening knives, but GOP leaders smell a chance to reshape the Fed for a post-dollar era. Either way, the hearing promises more drama than a leveraged trader’s margin call.

Bottom line: Another institution gets Trumped—because who needs central bank independence when you’ve got election-year economics?

Miran wants lower interest rates

Miran, who criticized the Fed last fall for cutting rates, warning that lower rates could perpetuate inflation further, is now in favor of cutting rates.

Miran, who holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University, believes that the TRUMP administration’s policies, from immigration to trade and deregulation, which he has helped create, are disinflationary. This contrasts with many on the Fed who believe the president’s tariffs could lead to higher inflation. If the Senate were to confirm Miran in time for the Sept. 16-17 policy meeting and the full committee is not convinced to lower rates at that time, Miran would likely dissent in favor of cutting rates. That would mark three on the committee who could dissent: Fed governors Chris Waller and Michelle Bowman both dissented at the July policy meeting, preferring to lower rates by 25 basis points.

Read more: How the Fed rate decision affects your bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and investments

Miran's 'Mar-a-Lago Accord' favors a weaker dollar

Miran favors a weaker dollar as a way to offset higher inflation from tariffs while also increasing exports, narrowing the trade deficit, and boosting growth. He is the author of what he dubbed the "Mar-a-Lago Accord," a reference to the 1985 Plaza Accord that succeeded in depreciating the dollar's value. The Mar-a-Lago Accord seeks to devalue the dollar while retaining the greenback as the world’s reserve currency. As one who favors a weaker dollar, Miran favors lower interest rates, which could lead to a weaker dollar if US rates are lower than the interest rates of other central banks around the world. The president has pushed for a 3 percentage point drop in the Fed’s benchmark policy rate. Investors will watch for how much Miran will push for the policy rate to drop if confirmed.

Miran wants a less independent Fed

Miran has advocated for major changes to the Fed. In a paper co-authored in 2024 with the now chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Miran called for an overhaul of the central bank by Congress that WOULD give the White House more control over firing Fed governors, as well as not allowing Fed governors to serve in the executive branch for four years following their term as governor. He also argued for subjecting the Fed’s independent budget to congressional appropriations. The proposals for allowing the president to dismiss Fed officials at will have stirred fears that the move could politicize the central bank and push the Fed to make policy according to the whims of the political cycle and not the economic cycle.

Read more: How jobs, inflation, and the Fed are all related

Still, as only one governor on the Fed, and possibly a temporary one, Miran himself isn’t expected to tip the scales all that much. Any major changes to the structure of the central bank would have to come from Congress, and there’s still a 19-member committee that will make decisions on rates led by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who, like the majority of the Fed, remains in a "wait-and-see" mode for the impact of tariffs on inflation.

Jennifer Schonberger is a veteran financial journalist covering markets, the economy, and investing. At Yahoo Finance she covers the Federal Reserve, Congress, the White House, the Treasury, the SEC, the economy, cryptocurrencies, and the intersection of Washington policy with finance. Follow her on X @Jenniferisms and on Instagram.