What did Donald Trump do today?

He imagined that his word was law.

Last week, Trump "called for" a reduction in credit card interest rates. Today, speaking to reporters as he returned from his usual three-day weekend in Florida, Trump declared that credit card companies that failed to reduce their interest rates by January 20th would be "in violation of the law."

No, they won't be. No such law exists, and Trump can't issue one by decree. 

Unfortunately, that wasn't the real financial news of the day. The New York Times broke the story on Sunday that the Trump administration has launched a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump has been demanding that the Fed slash interest rates, something completely contradicted by basic economic principles under the current circumstances. (Trump, who owns billions of dollars in both mortgaged property and bonds, would reap an enormous financial windfall if that were to happen.)

Powell responded tonight, directly accusing Trump of extortion.

Trump claimed tonight that he was unaware of any such investigation. This is also a lie: he publicly called for it, and Trump has made a point of installing DOJ officials who will act on those posts as official orders and then confirm that they did so.

Why does this matter?

• Trump is not a king and has no power to issue decrees with the force of law. 

• The health of the American economy is vastly more important than Trump adding a few hundred million dollars to his billions.