09/17/2026
What's up with President Trump’s vendetta against high profile Black professionals?
(Sept. 13th, 2025) A day after Donald Trump announced that he was firing Dr. Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve, the White House proudly released a photo. It showed Trump, his cabinet and other officials giving a thumbs-up. Of the 24 people in the Oval Office, only one was Black.
For those who have studied the US president’s long and troubling history of racism, the two events were more than mere coincidence. They were indicative of a man who has recently brought white nationalist perspectives from the margins back to the mainstream.
Trump has vehemently denied that he is a racist, pointing to a modest increase in support among African American voters in last year’s election, when his opponent was a Black woman. But critics suggest that his effort to oust Cook fits a pattern of purging diverse voices from the higher ranks of leadership.
“He chose to fire her out of all the governors because she’s a Black woman,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the organisation Black Voters Matter. “His goal is to get control of the Federal Reserve and for that to no longer be an autonomous, independent body. But what he does recognise is that in America everything is about race. It is as lethal as a nuclear bomb.”
Cook taught economics and international relations at Michigan State University, and was previously on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She was a Marshall scholar who received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta.
Cook dedicated much of her scholarship to examining how racial discrimination and targeted violence created barriers to economic advancement for African Americans. She also advised the Nigerian and Rwandan governments on banking reforms and economic development.
UPDATE:
Federal Reserve Governor Dr. Lisa Cook referred to a condominium she purchased in June 2021 as a “vacation home” in a loan estimate, a characterization that could undermine claims by the Trump administration that she committed mortgage fraud.
President Donald Trump has sought to fire Cook “for cause,” relying on allegations that Cook claimed both the condo and another property as her primary residence simultaneously, as he looks to reshape the central bank to orchestrate a steep cut to interest rates. Documents obtained by The Associated Press also showed that on a second form submitted by Cook to gain a security clearance, she described the property as a “second home.”
Cook sued the Trump administration to block her firing, the first time a president has sought to remove a member of the seven-person board of governors. Cook secured an injunction Tuesday that allows her to remain as a Fed governor.
The administration has appealed the ruling and asked for an emergency ruling by Monday, just before the Fed is set to meet and decide whether to reduce its key interest rate. Most economists expect they will cut the rate by a quarter point.
SOURCE: AP NEWS
https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-lisa-cook-trump-852820c83e5001ec3b6e2d14047965c9
SOURCE: The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/30/trump-administration-cabinet-race =1756565912
