Authoritarian Tuesday – Trump Fires Cook, Vows to Take Over More Tech Companies

You’re fired!  

Yesterday marked a historic and deeply troubling moment in American governance when President Trump took the unprecedented step of firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, the first time in the Fed’s 111-year history that a sitting President has dismissed a Central Bank Governor.

The firing stems from allegations made by William Pulte, Trump’s appointee as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who accused Cook of mortgage fraud related to two property purchases in 2021. The specific claim: Cook allegedly signed documents declaring both a Michigan property and a Georgia property as her “primary residence” within two weeks of each other. (see Hunter’s: “Fear and Loathing in the Fall of the Republic” and Boaty’s “Fed Governor Lisa Cook Under Political Attack” for a deep dive) 

The Timeline:

• • 2021: Cook, then an academic at Harvard, obtained the mortgages in question

  • 2022: Biden nominated Cook to the Fed; she became the first Black woman on the Board of Governors

  • August 15, 2025: Pulte filed a criminal referral with AG Pamela Bondi

  • August 20: Trump publicly demanded Cook’s resignation

  • August 25: Trump fired Cook via Truth Social post

Cook’s Defiant Response

Cook immediately pushed back, stating through her attorney Abbe David Lowell: “Trump has no authority to do so under the law. I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to support the American economy as I have been doing since 2022”. Her legal team argues there are “no grounds under the law” for her dismissal, setting up what could be a Supreme Court challenge over the limits of Presidential power over the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 states that Fed Governors can only be removed “for cause” – but crucially, no Fed governor has ever been dismissed for cause before. The law doesn’t define what constitutes “cause,” creating a legal gray area that Trump is now exploiting.

Key Legal Issues:

• Cook has not been charged with any crime

• The mortgage allegations are unproven and disputed

• Fed independence is considered fundamental to democratic governance

• Cook’s term runs until January 2038 – she was democratically confirmed by the Senate

This firing represents a direct attack on the Federal Reserve’s independence – a cornerstone of American Economic Policy since 1913. Trump’s action sends several chilling messages:

• • To Financial Markets: Political loyalty now “trumps” expertise in monetary policy
  • To Global Allies: America’s Economic Institutions are subject to authoritarian whims
  • To Future Nominees: Serve at the pleasure of the President, not the law

Cook’s firing fits into Trump’s expanding effort to seize control of previously independent institutions:

• • Federal Reserve: Demanding rate cuts, now firing Governors
  • Intelligence Agencies: Installing loyalists, purging career professionals
  • Justice Department: Using for political prosecutions and protection
  • Military Leadership: Replacing generals who question orders
  • Cities and Districts: Sending FBI, National Guard and even the US Military into US cities DESPITE the objections of Local Government 

That last one is in CLEAR violation of The Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. § 1385), which explicitly forbids using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. And, although the National Guard my act in states under the command of a state’s Governor, once Federalized by President, the Guard becomes subject to Posse Comitatus restrictions. “As a constitutional matter, the deployment of unfederalized Guard personnel into a nonconsenting state is NEVER permissible.”

Now, I KNOW this article, which discusses a significant historical event that has profound market implications, changes the course of the US Government and it’s relationship with our Nation’s Banking System and Wall Street and raises profound Constitutional issues is going to  be considered “Anti-Trump“.  Why? Because it comes to different conclusions than he’d like to see?  

Is that what we’ve really come to folks? That even DISCUSSING something is now “unpatriotic“? How many of our hard-won rights and freedoms do we have to give away for the sake of “not rocking the boat“? $69 BILLION worth of 2-year notes are being auctioned off today – what kind of country are we asking people to invest in?  

Trump’s military deployments represent the exact type of Federal overreach the Founders and post-Civil War Congress specifically designed our Constitutional System to prevent. The fact that he’s doing it anyway doesn’t make it legal – it makes it a Constitutional Crisis that threatens the fundamental balance of power between Federal and State authority. The courts will ultimately have to decide, but the law is remarkably clear: Trump’s military occupation of American cities violates both the Constitution and Federal Statute.

From Taking Over Cities to Taking Over Companies

Trump’s $8.9 billion stake in Intel (nearly 10% ownership) represents the largest Government intervention in a U.S. company since the 2008 auto bailout. But this goes far beyond economic rescue:

• • Government becomes Intel’s largest shareholder without governance rights

  • Trump personally negotiated the deal after demanding CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s resignation over China ties

  • $6 billion comes from converting CHIPS Act grants into equity ownership – so there is no financial benefit to the company or its shareholders

  • Sets a precedent for Government ownership in “strategic” tech companies that Trump has indicated he is “very” interested in pursuing

Trump is also implementing an unprecedented system of corporate control through export licensing:

• • Nvidia and AMD must pay 15% commission on China chip sales for export licenses

  • Intel gets government partnership in exchange for domestic production commitments

  • European tech companies face sanctions for implementing EU digital laws

Trump is considering sanctioning European officials who implement the EU’s Digital Services Act, claiming it “censors Americans.” This represents an unprecedented escalation – sanctioning Allied Government Officials for enforcing their own domestic laws. As Monday’s Truth Social post threatened: 

“All countries with Digital Services Taxes, Legislation, or Regulations are on notice – unless these are removed, I will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s exports to the U.S.“

The emerging pattern is that Trump is creating a new model of State-Corporate fusion that “STRONGLY RESEMBLES” authoritarian systems:

1. 1. Financial Control: Take stakes in strategic companies (Intel model)

   2. Export Licensing: Control international business through permit requirements

   3. Institutional Capture: Remove independent regulators (Cook firing)

   4. International Threats: Sanction foreign officials who regulate U.S. companies

What This Means for Markets

Short-term Impact:

• • Tech stocks face political risk pricing beyond Economic Fundamentals

  • Fed policy credibility undermined, more Dollar weakness is likely, foreign buyers may stop buying our debt

  • International tensions escalates trade war risks

Long-term Implications:

• • Corporate decision-making increasingly driven by political loyalty

  • Innovation stifled by political interference and uncertainty

  • Democratic Capitalism replaced by Crony Capitalism model

Cook’s firing may seem like an isolated personnel decision, but it represents something far more dangerous: the systematic dismantling of the institutional guardrails that have protected American democracy and free markets for over a century. When the president can fire Fed governors over unproven allegations, take ownership stakes in strategic companies and threaten foreign officials for enforcing their own laws, then we are no longer operating under the constitutional system that made America an economic superpower.

The question isn’t whether Trump has the legal authority to do these things – it’s whether we still have a democracy capable of stopping him!

As we’ve seen throughout history, economic authoritarianism and political authoritarianism are not separate phenomena – they are two sides of the same coin. The Corporate Boardroom and the Ballot Box both fall under the control of those who believe that might makes right and that institutions exist to serve power, not constrain it. The Lisa Cook firing is just the beginning. The real question is: What will Congress, the courts, and the American people do to stop this Constitutional Crisis before it’s too late? 

And, if nothing – then it probably is too late – and that begs the question – what now?  

Song by Anya (AGI)