FILE PHOTO: Lisa Cook testifies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on her nomination to be a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (for a second term), on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
President Donald Trump's threats to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook are proof that "nobody is safe" from the new era of "weaponized government," Nobel Prize-winning economist turned political pundit Paul Krugman wrote for his Substack on Monday.
This follows Trump's housing finance chief, Bill Pulte, leveling an unsubstantiated "mortgage fraud" claim against Cook, who happens to be one of the Fed officials who opposed Trump's demanded rate cuts.
"I am not going to lead with a discussion of what Cook may or may not have done," wrote Krugman. "That would be playing Trump’s game. Clearly, he’s just looking for a pretext to fire someone who isn’t a loyalist — and who happens, surprise, to be a black woman. If you write about politics and imagine that Trump cares about mortgage fraud — or for that matter believe anything Trump officials say about the affair without independent confirmation — you should find a different profession. Maybe you should go into agricultural field work, to help offset the labor shortages created by Trump’s deportations."
In truth, he wrote, "You should think about the attack on Cook in the same context as mortgage fraud accusations made against California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Or you should look at the attacks on Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, over the cost of renovations at the Fed’s headquarters. Or the still mysterious raid on the house of John Bolton, who at one time was Trump’s national security adviser." In reality, he argued, Trump doesn't care at all about fraud, which he has been found liable for himself — the real message is, “If you get in our way we will ruin your life.”
More generally, Krugman warned, "What we’re witnessing is the authoritarian playbook in action. Tyrannies don’t always get their way by establishing a secret police force that arrests people at will — although we’re getting that too. Much of their power comes not from overt violence but from their ability to threaten people’s careers and livelihoods, up to and including trumped-up accusations of criminal behavior."
It remains to be seen whether any criminal charges will actually materialize for Cook, Krugman wrote — mortgage fraud actually is common, but rarely prosecuted and requires proof that someone purposely falsified records.
But that's not the point, he concluded. The point is, "we are all Lisa Cook. You may imagine that your legal and financial history is so blameless that there’s no way MAGA can come after you. If you believe that, you’re living in a fantasy world. Criticize them or get in their way, and you will become a target."