Trump–Powell meet becomes the internet's new obsession originally appeared on TheStreet .
President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell are at odds again; this time, not over interest rates, but instead over renovations to buildings.
The two were together on Thursday during a visit to a Fed facility site, and Trump publicly criticized the renovations themselves as "outrageous" and an example of government waste at its finest.
Standing side by side in hard hats, the President and Powell exchanged tense words in front of rolling cameras.
During the tour of the central bank's historic buildings, Trump felt comfortable asserting to Powell that the renovation had risen to $3.1 billion, attributing the spending to Powell's mismanagement .
Last week, President Trump said the mismanagement could be a reason to fire the 72-year-old Chairman. Previously, Trump publicly reproved Powell for not cutting interest rates.
Join the discussion with CryptosRUs on Roundtable here.
The Fed chairman disagreed, correcting Trump, as the number Trump was mentioning originated from including a third building that had been renovated five years earlier.
Community reacts
As the awkward dialogue between the two officials was released, the internet jumped in and did what it does best – making memes. The crypto community, especially, went wild – sparking a slew of viral memes and humorous posts.
One popular meme, with thousands of shares, is of a confused Powell reading something with the caption: "GO HOME Jerome"—a now-popular call-to-action amongst Fed detractors.
Another meme, viewed over 1.2 million times, shows Powell in his hard hat with that look of confusion, with the caption, "My financial advisor looking at my portfolio, which is 90% BTC miners and sh*tcoins."
Join the discussion with Scott Melker on Roundtable here.
This post illustrates how quickly the event was capitalized on and leveraged by crypto enthusiasts and meme traders.
Though the online reaction has injected some humor and fun, the tension between Trump and Powell is serious, and the market effects are being felt in crypto markets.
At the time of press, Bitcoin had fallen from a 24-hour high of $119,472.65 to $115,494.98 , as per Kraken. While the total crypto market cap is down to $3.79 trillion, down over 2.75%.
Trump–Powell meet becomes the internet's new obsession first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 25, 2025
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 25, 2025, where it first appeared.
