Jerome Powell stepped to the podium Sunday evening in his first public appearance since handing over the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve. The occasion was the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. The message carried far beyond ceremony. “Democratic institutions take much time, effort, and patience to build but can be torn down all too quickly,” he said, accepting the honor from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. He listed courts, universities, and the central bank itself. Then he turned directly to the stress test his own institution had endured. The timing was no accident. Powell’s term as chair ended May 15. Kevin Warsh was sworn in as his successor on May 22. Yet Powell chose to remain on the Fed’s Board of Governors. The decision blocks an immediate Trump appointee from filling the seat. It also keeps the former chair inside the building as legal and political pressure continues. Those pressures are not abstract. President Donald Trump pushed repeatedly for faster interest-rate cuts.…