CNBC's Jim Cramer went off on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, saying President Donald Trump is right to worry about a possible recession in 2019 as a result of the central bank chief's rate hikes.

"The president is spot on," Cramer said on CNBC's "Mad Money" on Wednesday evening, after the Powell Fed raised rates for the fourth time in 2018 and projected two more increases next year. "The Fed is perfectly happy to gradually strangle the economy, the U.S. economy, in order to stamp out inflation, or the potential of inflation. And that's bad news for corporate earnings" and the stock market.

Cramer has been saying for months there's no need to worry about inflation since it's not problematically high, and that the economy is showing pockets of weakness. Taken together, those factors indicate the Fed should pause rate hike, he has argued.

"If I were running Trump's re-election campaign, Jay Powell would be my worst nightmare," said Cramer, who, like the president, has been calling on Powell to stop. Powell apologists, "they must have no sense or empathy for what's about to happen to the working person in this country," Cramer added.