The White House’s latest effort to tighten control over the Federal Reserve exemplifies President Trump’s typical tactics in battle. He has an uncanny knack for pushing the limits of protocol, precedent, constitutional boundaries, and American values by targeting individuals or organizations that are often seen as difficult to defend. In his latest bid, Trump has tried to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from her position after allegations of mortgage fraud emerged last week, prompted by an “anonymous tip” that landed on the desk of Federal Housing Finance Agency Director (FHFA) William Pulte.
Gov. Cook is not a sympathetic target, as early evidence looks damning. Still, any alleged misconduct on her part seems almost as reprehensible as the bank fraud that led to Trump’s conviction for inflating the value of his assets to obtain favorable loan and insurance rates. This is not to defend Cook, but rather to illustrate the parallelism and hypocrisy of the rule of law being subordinated to the law of the ruler. The Fed governor has over a dozen years remaining in her appointed term, she has not yet been proven to have intentionally broken any laws, and she may have made a clerical error in her mortgage applications. Equally important are the issues of fairness and due process as core principles that transcend popularity and personal morality.
In the context of Gov. Cook, the potentially compelling accusations amount at this time to allegations and not indictments. Without a guilty verdict, the situation raises questions about the right to equal protection, considering the president’s parallel proven violations. In fact, if there is a strong case against Cook, then Trump’s clumsy interference could subvert his own Justice Department, which may have been ready to indict Cook based on the FHFA referral. Her strongest defense may be Trump’s political interference.
The challenge for honorable, patriotic public figures is how to defend American principles that are foundational to our nation’s character without falling into the clever, quicksand-like trap that Trump has set for his chosen targets. Messaging must make distinctions, but also avoid getting lost in parenthetic abstractions or potentially easier-to-discredit targets.
The subjugation of private enterprise governance to a single political bully through gradual stations may not seem to be a sympathetic cause to all populists, but it is equivalent to the gradual degradation of an independent Fed and the rule of law. Similarly, Trump’s expanding war on American cities is eroding our nation’s fundamental character regarding state rights and local accountability. The fundamental challenge is to realize that we lose our character through incremental, creeping concessions to the totalitarian process.
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