Even after the shocks of the past year and Trump’s repeated harassment of the Fed — including efforts to fire Lisa Cook, a governor, over alleged mortgage fraud — this is a serious moment. Powell, like any central bank head, can be accused of getting some monetary policy decisions wrong. But that does not justify the US president taking a leaf out of the authoritarian’s playbook in weaponising the criminal justice system — not for the first time — against someone who refuses to do his bidding. Fed independence is not just a vital pillar of US economic governance but an anchor of the entire global financial system.