Today is Tuesday, August 26, 2025. I’m watching the most wretched piece of bullshit on Jen Psaki’s MSNBC show The Briefing in which she showed highlights of a Cabinet-level meeting with Demented Don. Everyone at the table provided the most fawning, ridiculous praise of the dismantler of democracy that I wanted to retch. Talk about having “yes men” in your cabinet and no one else. The meeting, if it went on any longer, certainly didn’t do one productive piece of business since everyone was just saying how Chump has restored the American dream and other fucking bullshit like that. One idiot member talked about Chump getting a Nobel Peace Prize, which will never happen, in my opinion.

Showing clear signs of being a true dictator, president Demented Don has now targeted a Black Federal Reserve Governor by the name of Lisa Cook for termination, something he clearly has no jurisdiction to do. This offensive against an independent agency such as the Federal Reserve serves as the subject of an online MSNBC article called “Why Trump’s offensive against the Fed’s Lisa Cook is a ‘five-alarm fire,'” by Steve Benen.

Last Wednesday, the arsonist known as Donald Chump targeted Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, by writing online that she “must resign, now!!!” A couple of days later, a reporter asked the clueless president whether he intended to fire Cook. Naturally, he vehemently answered in the affirmative, quickly sending Cook a letter saying that she was “hereby removed from your position on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, effective immediately.”

As for who Cook truly is, here is some background information: Joe Biden appointed Cook, an accomplished economist, to the Federal Reserve’s board of governors three years ago, and at that point, she became the first Black woman to serve on the Fed board. Her tenure has been uncontroversial so far – until at least last week.

You must wonder if Cook is being unfairly targeted for no other reason because of her race. If you said yes, you’re correct. In order to manufacture a “legal” reason for going after her, the director of the U.S. Federal Housing Financial Agency, William Pulte, has alleged that Cook “potentially” committed mortgage fraud. However, Cook has not been convicted or even been indicted or formally charged with any crimes. But we do know for a fact that this putrid Pulte is a Chump sidekick and loyalist and is a critic of the Fed. He has conveniently started going after a variety of Dump targets with dubious claims of mortgage fraud.

Here’s the rub on Cook’s firing: it’s fucking illegal. According to multiple sources, the president cannot legally fire a Fed governor simply because he wants to. Under the Federal Reserve Act, the only reason governors can be removed from their positions is “for cause,” or some kind of wrongdoing. As thing stand, Cook hasn’t even been charged, much less convicted, so Dump’s move strongly seems to be illegal.

This starting gun in an egregious power grab by Dump over the Federal Reserve could mean economic disaster for this country if he guts the agency and replaces it with Dump loyalists. The White House is bent on seizing control over U.S. monetary policy, especially as it relates to interest rates. This orange ogre has already launched an unprecedented campaign against Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he’s not satisfied with. If he forces Cook out and replaces her with a Dump automaton, this would gut the institution’s independence and shift power in the direction of this evil Oval Office.

As leading economist Paul Krugman has explained, if Dump successfully corrupts the institution and its work, “We become Venezuela. We become Turkey. We become a place where all of this stuff is just at the whims of the strongman in charge . . . No president should have the power to just arbitrarily control what the Fed does, and least of all this president. So, this is the road to things going completely wild – not five years down the pike, but months from now.” He added, “This is a five-alarm fire.”

The story hasn’t ended with this crooked president thinking he fired Cook; she’s still on the job and has taken legal action. She’s announced her intention to sue the president for this illegal action. Her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said today that Cook will be filing a lawsuit, adding that President Donald Trump’s “attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis.” Not anything new, considering this president has his head up his ass.

This newest outrage is just another reason to have soundly rejected him on Election night. We certainly wouldn’t be here if we had.

One positive note today: a Democrat, Catelin Drey, has flipped a deep-red Iowa state Senate seat that the Orange Ogre carried by a massive margin. And with this victory, Democrats have officially broken Republicans’ supermajority in the Iowa State Senate.

Let’s hope that this stunning win in a Dump state is a signal that voters are indeed exhausted by repugnican extremism, tired of Dump’s chaos, and ready to restore some balance.

Drey ran on protecting reproductive rights, defending public schools, and restoring local control to Iowa communities.

Tomorrow I’m not sure if I will be writing my blog since we will be out visiting “Joseph” who’s in a rehab facility after having serious back surgery. Afterward, we’ll be having dinner with his wife “Mary.” But we’ll see. I do have to go to my comic store first.

Have a good Wednesday then.

And so it went!