President’s targeting of Fed governor Lisa Cook highlights his efforts to remove diverse voices from government

President’s targeting of Fed governor Lisa Cook highlights his efforts to remove diverse voices from government

A day after Donald Trump announced that he was firing 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.

  • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca
    24·
    1 day ago

    Didn’t he accuse a top general of being a DEI hire because he was black?

    It’s not an accident. That’s what this whole anti DEI push actually is.

  • Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works
    91·
    1 day ago

    *Americans are racist has hell. Maybe the first time he was elected was a mistake, but you dont make that kind of mistake twice. USA is a deeply rotten country that’s proud of his racist heritage. Period.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    1 day ago

    Of course Taco is racist, but even if his cabinet was all-Black and were incompetent suck-ups with horrible ideology as they are now, it’d be no better just because there was representation.

  • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
    4·
    1 day ago

    It is naive to think diversity is without issues, but ultimately it is indeed strength. Studies showed diverse teams performed better than non-diverse ones. Even though I am vehemently anti-imperialist, multiethnic empires of the past lasted long because they embraced diversity, synthesising ideas and technology from various cultures. Remove the imperialism, and diversity on its own is inherently advantageous. The talent and intellect from various people who have different perspectives allow for creativity and innovation.

    As talented Germany as had before and during World War II, history as we know it might have turned out differently if the Nazis did not scare the Jewish intelligentsia and atomic scientists out of the country and absorbed by the US instead. What Trump is doing is precisely that. The US will ultimately fail for its anti-intellectualism and persecution of those different. Other countries will benefit from the brain drain. This is why fascist regimes will always fail because their own policies, which are wholly driven by emotions, are their own undoing. That is the good news. The bad news is that it will get worse before it gets better.