I realize this goes without saying, but the Trump administration’s characterization of renovations to the Marriner Eccles building — which Russ Vought described in Baroque terms while smearing Jerome Powell on social media last week — have no basis in reality.

Annoying as Donald Trump’s policy criticism surely is, I imagine Powell’s far more vexed by the cruel disingenuousness on display in the effort to create a pretext for what, if we’re “honest” (to quote a tone deaf JPMorgan trading note published earlier this week), is a manifestly illegal encroachment on central bank independence in America.

Trump this week said of Powell, “I think he’s a total stiff, but the one thing I didn’t see him [as] is a guy [who] needed a palace to live in.” To call that ridiculous would be an understatement of palatial proportions. Powell doesn’t “live in” the Marriner Eccles building. It’s not a residence, and it’s not a palace.

Trump and his cronies are painting a picture to the public of a Fed Chair who lords it over America’s money supply from a Buckingham-style estate on the National Mall, where he lives a life of opulence on the public dime. Nothing could be further from the truth. Powell’s a highly-accomplished lawyer and a private equity veteran. If he wanted a kingly life, he’d work in the private sector for a kingly wage. And he’s already hugely wealthy. He doesn’t need taxpayers to fund extravagant office renovations if he wants to know what it’s like to hang out in a palace. If Powell wants a palace, he can just buy one (or build one) with the tens of millions of dollars he made in the private sector independent of his stint as a public servant.

This is all obvious to you and me, and also to Trump and his pitiable coterie of groveling minions, but it’s important to bear in mind that a majority of the voting public, and the vast majority of Trump’s lower-income base, has no conception whatever of how absurd these burlesque depictions of Powell really are. That’s why I’ve been so keen to insist that this charade endangers Powell and his family. Trump, Vought, dozens of GOPers in the House and even the likes of Kevin Warsh, are inviting violence against a public servant.

Powell responded to Vought’s letter asking about the cost overruns for the renovations. The truth, naturally, isn’t just innocuous, it’s in some places an indictment of the government’s failure to maintain the Eccles building in a condition that’s suitable for public visitation. For example, in response to Vought’s suggestion that the facilities actually didn’t need renovation because they underwent work 22 years ago, Powell said,

While periodic work has been done to keep these buildings occupiable, neither building has seen a comprehensive renovation since they were first constructed [in the 1930s]. Both buildings were in need of significant structural repairs and other updates to make the buildings safe, healthy, and effective places to work, including the removal of asbestos and lead contamination, complete replacement of antiquated systems such as electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, as well as fire detection and suppression systems.

I want to be careful and clear: I’m obviously not suggesting the Eccles building was a dump before, nor that it wouldn’t seem “a palace” to someone visiting from flyover country or, say, from West Virginia. What I am saying, though, is that having spent a dozen years studying and working in ostensibly ostentatious structures on a number of college campuses, I can tell you that old buildings can be impressive, imposing and dilapidated at the same time.

In his letter, Powell also addressed the talking points the administration used to paint him with the Louis XIV brush. That “rooftop terrance”? Yeah, that’s actually a ground-level front yard. The “rooftop” description refers to its dual-use function as an eco-friendly canopy for a parking lot underneath it. Green roofs, Powell reminded Vought, “are found on other federal government buildings, like the Department of Justice.”

Remember the “premium marble” the administration played up as though it were sourced from a quarry in Carrara? Yeah, as it turns out, the Fed preserved everything they could of the original marble used in the facades and stonework, and only where that marble was damaged such that it “raised [concerns from] external review agencies” was it replaced. All new marble for the project is sourced from Georgia. The state, not the country.

As for the supposed “VIP elevator,” that’s just a lie, according to Powell. “There are no special, private, or VIP elevators being constructed as part of the project,” he told Vought, as if Vought didn’t know. The elevator which services one of the building’s “historic conference rooms” is being expanded, though. By 18 inches, in order to — wait for it — accommodate wheelchairs.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. For the umpteenth time: No one’s saying the building doesn’t look like “ancient Rome” (as one Google reviewer put it) to visitors on guided tours. But the key word there isn’t “Rome,” it’s “ancient.”

I don’t know how many of you’ve ever owned an outwardly impressive space in a downtown area constructed 100 years ago, but I have. Very recently, in fact. And let me tell you from a year and half of experience — which included near-daily renovation costs which at one point manifested in a $7,000 charge to fix a minor leak on a row of windows — the more ornate these structures are, the more they tend to cost to maintain over the years.

What Trump’s doing to Powell — with the participation both of people you wouldn’t expect more of, and of people you would — is one of the most egregiously dishonest acts yet in a decade-long political career defined by flagrant, unending perfidiousness.