Lisa Cook: The Trump Resistance

A heavy additional burden has fallen on Lisa Cook, governor of the Federal Reserve (Fed), starting this week. Something far beyond monetary policy depends on her, on her rebellion against the White House's harassment.

This week, its name has become the symbol of resistance to President Donald Trump's assault on the institution's independence, something that seemed sacred. Not even Richard Nixon, the most anti-establishment president to date, dared to do so.

“This isn’t a fight for my job, it’s a fight for what’s right,” Cook said.

Without even realizing it, the first Black woman to hold this position in the history of the institution, founded in 1913, appears to be the center of Trump's aspirations, ready to take control and impose his criteria in all the halls of power that allow him to apply his rule-and-control manual.

Trump announced the immediate firing of Cook, 61, last Monday on his social media platform. He alleged alleged mortgage fraud that has yet to reach the courts. First he fired, then he considered the legality. Instead of submitting, Cook went into battle and went to court to defend himself.

A daughter of school desegregation, her election faced racist opposition from Republican senators

This Friday, a federal judge in Washington held the first hearing, although she did not issue a ruling. If Trump wins, this will give him control of four of the board's seven governors and the ability to set interest rates as he pleases.

These kinds of attacks are no strangers to Cook. Skin color does matter. Her choice for this assault may have its roots in her appointment process. Nominated by President Joe Biden, she passed the Senate scrutiny in 2022. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who presided over the Senate, had to cast the tie-breaking vote. Not a single Republican voted for Cook, whom they scorned. JD Vance, Harris's current deputy in the administration and then a senator, made this disdain for professional merit clear. "Focusing on diversity can distract us from our ability to focus on much more important things," Vance argued.

Another in this vein was Pete Navarro, Trump's economic advisor, who further escalated the insult at the time by stating that "Cook is more qualified to coach an NFL team."

“I still have a scar where my eyebrows don't grow, and a scar on my leg from being beaten during desegregation,” she told NPR in 2020, recalling her time as a child experiencing mixed race at school. Originally from Milledgeville, Georgia, Cook attended Spelman College in Atlanta. “She was the epitome of excellence,” her colleagues said.

He then studied at Oxford University and the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a doctorate in economics.

In her professional career, she served as an adjunct professor at Harvard and taught economics and economic policy at Michigan State University for years. Under President Barack Obama, she served on the administration's Council of Economic Advisers.

While at the Federal Reserve, he joined the Consumer and Community Affairs division, which implements federal laws "aimed at protecting and informing consumers in credit and other financial services transactions." He also serves on the Financial Stability Committee, among others. "He has always brought integrity and commitment to the mission of the Federal Reserve," New York Fed Chairman John Williams said on NBC.

His sin is his vote. He has consistently supported Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's vote to maintain interest rates, defying Trump's pressure to lower them.