Herman Cain in 2014.

By Drew Angerer/EPA/REX/Shutterstock.

Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to bend the Federal Reserve to his will. So far, however, his impulses have been kept somewhat in check by advisers who’ve warned that attacks on the Fed could backfire. Still, his animosity toward Jerome Powell, his handpicked Fed chair, has not let up. And Trump may have landed on a way to undermine Powell without firing him: by stacking the Fed board with lackeys.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the president has offered Stephen Moore, a former campaign adviser and conservative pundit, a seat on the Federal Reserve’s board, confirming earlier reports that the Club for Growth founder was being considered for a spot, along with businessman and former presidential candidate Herman Cain. (Shortly thereafter, Trump confirmed Moore’s nomination via tweet.) Both Moore and Cain —“Mr. 9-9-9” himself—are ardent Trump supporters. Their addition to the board would almost certainly be taken as a sign that the president is politicizing the Federal Reserve, which he’s subjected to frequent attacks ahead of a tough re-election bid and signs the economy could be headed for a slowdown or even a recession.

“The only problem our economy has is the Fed,” Trump tweeted in a Christmas Eve onslaught against the bank last year. “The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch—he can’t putt!”

Powell this week agreed to hit pause on interest-rate hikes, but Trump has kept his foot on the gas, bashing the Fed chair in a Fox Business interview and saying that he didn’t care if he influenced the bank chief’s decision because, in the end, “I was right.”

The possible addition of Moore and Cain would represent not only Trump’s growing influence at the Fed, but also his fondness for filling the halls of power with sycophants. Moore frequently appears on CNN to defend the president and his economic policies, though he relies on dubious evidence to support his supply-side claims. In fact, according to Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs, it was Moore’s W.S.J. op-ed arguing the president’s position—that Powell’s rate hikes are a threat to growth—that led Trump to consider him for the job.

Cain, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination in 2012 before his campaign folded amid sexual misconduct allegations, is a former Fox News commentator, and spends much of his time offering half-baked attacks on Democrats online. Cain is also the founder of a pro-Trump Super PAC aiming to protect the president from impeachment, as Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Both would likely face contentious confirmation battles were they to be formally nominated. And Trump would no doubt be accused of exerting undue influence at the Fed. With Powell in place and allies on the board, though, he can perhaps have the best of both worlds: influence on the national bank, but with someone to blame if things go south.