1) Inflation is at 2.4%, about half of the interest rate.
2) During Democrats’ time in office, the overnight lending rate has gone WAY below inflation, stuck at zero for almost of Obama AND Biden’s entire time in office, while quantitative easing meant the government was buying all of the government-issued debt.
3) The very time it would make sense to allow inflation to exceed interest rates would be if inflation were artificially boosted by importers passing on tariffs, since that would mean that any present inflation is not indicative of future inflation.