U.S. President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and U.S. Health and Human Services

The Guardian reports President Donald Trump may claim not to be a racist but he does know how to use racism to his advantage.

When Trump announced the firing of the first Black woman to serve on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve, observers say he knew he was circling one of the easiest targets on the board.

“He picked her because he is betting that, in an industry that is probably 90 percent or more white male, his odds of removing her are greater than the odds for removing others from the board,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. “That in itself is rooted in … how insidious racism is built into the fabric of how we see people of color in this country.”

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Brown told the Guardian that racism and sexism is still a “very effective tool to cast doubt” and that makes it a promising path for any opportunist. Cook, she added, isn’t even the chair of the board, so why else would he have picked her for removal?

This is not the first time Trump has used racism to forge the shortest path to his agenda, says the Guardian. Over the past seven months Trump fired Gen Charles Q. Brown Jr, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, who was the second Black man to serve in the position. He also fired Carla Hayden, the first Black person to serve as librarian of Congress. He also fired Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to sit on the National Labor Relations Board, which hears private-sector labor disputes.

The Guardian reports Trump is the same man who pushed the “birther” conspiracy theory, falsely claiming Barack Obama was not born in the US and therefore ineligible to be president. He’s also the president who assured there were “very fine people on both sides” of a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Derrick Johnson said Cook’s credentials “outshine Trump’s entire cabinet,” and that Trump “cannot stomach Black excellence when it reveals his failures.” Johnson added that the president is clearly using racism as a tool to bend the Federal Reserve to his will.

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Brown added that Trump’s cabinet picks themselves demonstrate that he is “as racist as hell.”

“Quite frankly, I’m glad he doesn’t have a whole lot of Black people in his cabinet because that would be deeply embarrassing to me. Who would work in that mess?” Brown said.

Read the full Guardian report at this link.