Warwick’s Crowne Plaza last week was the place to be for Rhode Island’s political and business leaders as they joined one of the first public appearances by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell since the Fed’s quarter-point cut in the federal funds interest rate Sept. 17.

Powell provided a calm and steady explanation for the rate reduction, a response to heightened instability in the labor market and the overall financial outlook of the nation’s economy. It represents a carefully calibrated corrective shift to try to stimulate economic growth and keep unemployment in check without triggering more inflation.

Although he kept politics largely out of the discussion, Powell acknowledged that the country’s “substantial changes in trade and immigration policies, as well as in fiscal, regulatory and geopolitical arenas” have played a role in the economy’s downturn, the long-term implications of which remain unclear.

The contrast between the steadfast Fed chairman and our vacillating, about-facing, prevaricating president couldn’t have been clearer.

Adjusting the economic health of a nation involves a dizzying number of variables and complexities, and Powell’s visit to Warwick helped to demonstrate clearly something that most any amateur political scientist could posit – that abrupt and myopic policy decisions (like deporting migrant farm workers at harvest time, halting massive wind projects already approved and nearly finished, and cutting billions of dollars for research at institutes of higher education) creates uncertainty and direct consequences that jeopardize our economy.

In true form, our president, rather than trying to grapple with this reality as grocery prices continue to spiral out of the realm of affordability for everyday Americans (despite immediate price containment being a key promise in his campaign), has spent far more energy bullying the Fed to change reality into something surreal but convenient for him.

His public hectoring of Powell – whom he selected as chairman, by the way – and his attempts to pack the Fed’s board of governors with loyalists who want to slash rates with dangerous speed, demonstrate that he is more interested in immediate gratification and more adulation from the wealthy than he is in addressing America’s economic challenges.

The friction between President Donald Trump and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell (and Powell’s colleagues on the Fed board who also favor a careful approach to fiddling with the dials beneath the financial backbone of the dollar) demonstrates the stark difference between the patient, deliberative approach of Powell and the knee-jerk policymaking so clumsily practiced by the president and his allies.

The Fed illustrates why the separation of powers is such a critical pillar of our governmental system. The American economy is a complex and temperamental monster. It must be handled with thought and care, not ignorant impulse in the self-serving pursuit of short-term gains.