'Just doesn't work': MAGA investor warns of dire consequences if Trump takes over Fed

President Donald Trump's constant demand for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates — which escalated with this week's attempted firing of Fed member Lisa Cook – won't bode well for the economy at large, according to one Trump-friendly investor.

The Hill reported Thursday that "Shark Tank" co-host Kevin O'Leary, who has called Trump's table at Mar-a-Lago "the center of the universe" and has posed for photos with Trump, is coming out hard against the president's plan to control the nation's central bank. O'Leary said that "hyperinflation" was a likely scenario if Trump strong-armed the Fed into lowering interest rates before the economy was capable of handling the change.

"The reason we don’t have hyperinflation like Venezuela is we have a Fed," O'Leary told Fox Business on Thursday. "If you allow the ‘el presidente’ to set interest rates, you end up with bread costing $1,000 more every day."

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"And that’s what happens in Venezuela," he continued. "So ... the idea that you have the executive deciding monetary policy, that just doesn’t work."

Traditionally, the Fed only lowers interest rates in times of severe economic stress. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Fed chair Jerome Powell lowered rates to zero percent and kept them there as a means of stimulating the economy as much as possible during a period of high unemployment and a decimated global supply chain. But once inflation spiked globally in response to the pandemic, the Fed raised interest rates to offset the overheating economy.

Powell has signaled recently that a slight interest rate cut may be coming soon due to a tougher labor market, but indicated that the rate cut would be small in order to prevent inflation from spiraling out of control. Powell hasn't referenced pressure from Trump due to his decision, but rather the widespread economic uncertainty (partially due to Trump's tariffs) that has led to a rise in inflation.

Cook has sued Trump over her attempted firing, which the president has justified by accusing her of committing mortgage fraud. However, Cook has not been charged with a crime and said that the issue pertaining to her mortgage documents was attributed to a "clerical error."

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Click here to read the Hill's report in full.