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Trump Eyes Powell’s Replacement: Why Judy Shelton Stands Out—and Why the Fed Still Needs to Go

EDITOR'S NOTES

The debate over who might replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair misses the larger point—namely, whether the Fed should even exist in its current form. While names like Scott Bessent, Kevin Hassett, and Kevin Warsh circle the rumor mill, it’s Judy Shelton—an advocate for sound money and gold-backed policy—who raises the most interesting prospect. But even her nomination would do little to change the deeper structural rot in America’s central bank. In this piece, we’ll break down the likely contenders, highlight what Shelton gets right, and explore why true economic reform won’t come from reshuffling bureaucrats—but from abandoning centralized monetary control altogether.

Eric Blair Jun 20, 25

When the headlines zero in on President Trump calling Fed Chair Jerome Powell a “numbskull” and a “stupid person,” the media loves the spectacle—but they miss the signal. The real story isn’t Trump’s insults. It’s that the White House is openly questioning the legitimacy and competence of the Federal Reserve, a sacred cow in global finance that has quietly presided over the debasement of the U.S. dollar for over a century. And now, as Trump teases Powell’s replacement ahead of the 2026 expiration of his chairmanship, we’re seeing a familiar cast of candidates—all insiders, all tied to the same system that brought us boom-bust cycles, quantitative easing, and unprecedented debt monetization.

Let’s break down the names floating around.

Scott Bessent currently holds the role of Treasury Secretary and has spent decades managing investments, including for none other than George Soros. That should raise more red flags than a Chinese military parade. While Bessent claims to be “happy to do what President Trump wants,” his loyalty lies with markets, not monetary reform. If installed at the Fed, expect more of the same: interventions dressed up as policy, asset bubbles disguised as prosperity.

Kevin Hassett, head of the National Economic Council and Trump’s tax cut evangelist, is another potential appointee. Hassett has the resume and the ideological alignment—but he’s ultimately a creature of D.C. economic orthodoxy. He's praised for pushing pro-growth policies, but he has shown little interest in dismantling the real mechanisms that rob savers and reward reckless debtors.

Then there’s Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor and current fellow at the Hoover Institution. Warsh was on the radar back in Trump’s first term and remains a polished, articulate defender of Fed policy with minor tweaks. In other words, he’s a continuity candidate—someone who may talk reform but won't bite the hand that feeds the fiat system.

And that brings us to Judy Shelton—the only one in the lineup who genuinely challenges the Federal Reserve’s sacred status quo. A long-time advocate of sound money and a critic of the Fed’s opaque, unaccountable influence on markets, Shelton has called for a return to monetary discipline, including tying the dollar to gold. That alone sets her apart from the pack. She also advised Trump during his first term and was nominated to the Fed board in 2020, although her nomination was blocked by establishment Republicans terrified of real reform.

Shelton has recently admitted she’s likely not at the top of Trump’s shortlist. But the fact that she’s being mentioned at all gives us a glimpse of what real monetary accountability could look like—if only it were allowed to take root.

Still, let’s not kid ourselves. Swapping Powell for Shelton—or anyone else, for that matter—doesn’t solve the core problem: The Federal Reserve is a centrally planned price-fixer in a market that should be free. It manipulates interest rates, distorts capital allocation, and backstops a banking system that privatizes profits while socializing losses. That is the problem, and no new chair—no matter how principled—can fix a system built on coercion and credit expansion.

If you’re waiting for the Fed to save you, you’re playing the wrong game. It's time to stop trusting unelected economists with lifetime power over your savings and start protecting yourself.

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