USA – President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House already carried the potential for sweeping changes to the Federal Reserve. But now a growing question is not how the central bank will operate under Trump but if it’ll continue to operate at all. Elon Musk, a key Trump backer who is expected to have considerable sway in helping shape Trump’s policies, included a “100” emoji while resharing Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah’s post on X calling for abolishing the Fed.

“The Executive Branch should be under the direction of the president,” Lee said Thursday in a post on X, hours after Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters he wouldn’t resign if Trump asked him to. “The Federal Reserve is one of many examples of how we’ve deviated from the Constitution in that regard,” Lee added. “Yet another reason why we should #EndTheFed.” Asked where Trump stands on the matter, Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told CNN: “Policy should only be deemed official if it comes from President Trump directly.”

Calls to abolish the Fed are hardly new. Former congressman Ron Paul, who ran for president once as a Libertarian and twice as a Republican, published a book in 2009 titled End the Fed. Then in June, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Lee introduced corresponding bills aimed at uprooting the nation’s central bank and shifting its responsibilities to the Treasury Department.

But thus far, Trump has not publicly voiced his support for dismantling the Fed. On the campaign trail, he has, however, advocated for changing the central bank’s rulebook, to the dismay of many economists. (CNN)

Photo: Elon Musk speaks before Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. (Getty Images)…[+]