Trump's unprecedented attack on the Fed

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  NPR. This is The Indicator from Planet Money.

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  I'm Darian Woods.

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  And I'm Waylon Wong.

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  On Monday night, President Trump ratcheted up the pressure on the Federal Reserve.

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  Trump posted a letter on Truth Social firing a governor of the Fed, Lisa Cook.

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  He accused Lisa Cook of potential mortgage fraud.

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  Joe Biden appointed Lisa Cook to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in 2022.

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  It's a 14-year term, and Lisa Cook is the first black woman to serve there.

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  The Board of Governors' big role is voting on interest rates,

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  which they do alongside some regional Fed presidents.

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  So they are the ones who decide whether borrowing money will be easier or harder.

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  So this letter puts the country into extraordinary territory.

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  It politicizes the Fed, which is something we don't really have a precedent for in living memory.

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  The Fed has historically been insulated from politics

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  because it has this all-important job of keeping inflation stable and unemployment low.

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  It's supposed to steer the economy based on data.

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  Basically, Trump wants the economy revved up right now.

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  A lot.

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  And he doesn't consider that'll cause problems like inflation down the road.

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  The vast majority of economists don't share that view that interest rates should dramatically drop.

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