Overview

• The former labor secretary published a widely circulated Substack essay Tuesday, with outlets on Wednesday amplifying his warning about presidential control over economic levers.
• Reich says Trump is seeking to influence the Federal Reserve, citing criticism of Chair Jerome Powell and the firing of Fed governor Lisa Cook on disputed grounds.
• He points to reporting that prior federal grants to Intel are being converted into a 10 percent government stake, presenting it as evidence of direct control of a major chipmaker.
• Reich also claims Nvidia and AMD received export licenses to sell AI chips to China in exchange for the U.S. government collecting 15 percent of those sales.
• He adds that the White House is rating companies by their support for its agenda and warns these actions are raising the nation’s risk premium and could be Trump’s downfall; the White House did not immediately comment.