Dear Reader,

They are fighting over who controls the printing press. That is all this is.

Trump wants to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. Cook was a Biden appointee. The Supreme Court cleared the legal path in June. The deadline is August 26. And the mainstream is treating this like a civics crisis.

I call it the most honest thing to happen in Washington in years.

Inside today's issue:

• Why the Lisa Cook firing proves the Fed was never independent to begin with
• $39.83 trillion. The debt both parties built and nobody plans to pay back
• The Hormuz blockade, CPI, and the inflation number that is coming next quarter
• Larry Benedict says the oil market is creating unusual opportunities right now.

The Fed Was Never Independent. Trump Just Made It Official.

I have been saying this for 30 years. The Federal Reserve is not independent. It never was.

They built a nice cathedral. Called it "the Fed." Gave it marble floors and PhDs and a 12-city headquarters. Printed "independence" in every press release. And people believed them.

This week, Trump sent a letter to Fed Governor Lisa Cook. He said he is "considering" her removal. She has until August 26 to respond to mortgage fraud allegations. The Supreme Court ruled in June that a president CAN fire a Fed governor for cause. Trump is using that door.

CNN called it "unprecedented." CNBC called it "dangerous."

I call it honest.

Here is what 50 years of watching this game teaches you: The Fed has always answered to politics. It answers to whoever is president during a crisis. It answers to the Treasury Secretary. It answers to Wall Street, which funds both parties. The only thing "independent" about the Federal Reserve is the word in the press release.

Now there is a legal fight. And here is the number nobody wants to discuss while the cameras are all pointed at a mortgage application:

$39,839,223,157,130.

That is the national debt as of this week. Not $9.5 trillion like in 2008. Not $22 trillion when Trump left office in 2021. Thirty-nine trillion, eight hundred billion dollars. And climbing.

Lisa Cook voted. Jerome Powell voted. Presidents signed spending bills. Congress wrote the budgets. The Fed printed the money to cover the gap. This is what 50 years of "independence" produced.

There is something else building right now that connects directly to this fight. Something the CPI report this week does not show. I will get to it in a moment. But first:

But first, our friend Porter Stansberry has been tracking something that connects directly to this story. Take a look:

SPONSORED: PORTER & CO

The thing the CPI report does not show is Hormuz.

The IEA cut its 2026 oil demand forecast again this week because the Strait of Hormuz is still closed. Effectively closed since February. One-fifth of the world's oil supply stuck behind Iran's demands. Iran added six new conditions over the weekend. Each one designed to humiliate Washington. Oil prices climbed 5% in one session on Monday after Trump's counter-demands stalled the talks again.

Here is what that means for inflation:

CPI came in at 3.4% this week. The mainstream celebrated. "Cooling." "Soft landing." "Rate cuts back on the table."

I have seen this movie. When energy shocks hit from a closed Strait, the next CPI print goes the other direction. Shelter costs are already sticky. Food is up 3% year over year. Fruits and vegetables up 5.1%. Add an oil price spike and what you have is not a soft landing. You have a stagflation setup.

And the Fed cannot fight it. Because the moment rates go high enough to actually kill inflation, the interest bill on $39.8 trillion becomes unpayable. The 10-year Treasury auction last week showed the weakest demand since 2007. The bond market is already pricing in the stress.

So what does any of this have to do with who runs the Fed?

Everything. And nothing.

Here is what my rich dad taught me: You cannot save yourself with the same system that is destroying you. It does not matter if Lisa Cook keeps her job. It does not matter if the next Fed governor is Trump's pick or Biden's pick. The debt is $39.8 trillion. Someone has to monetize it. They will print. They always print.

EMPIRES DO THIS. They fight over who controls the printing press right before the currency collapses. Rome did it. Weimar Germany did it. I have watched it happen across four decades and five continents.

The only question that matters: what are YOU holding that they cannot print?

Gold. Silver. Bitcoin. Real assets. Things that exist outside the system. That is the escape hatch. It has always been the escape hatch.

The mainstream is arguing over a mortgage application. I am watching the debt clock, the oil price, and the Treasury auction that nobody on cable news is covering.

To your freedom,

Robert Kiyosaki

Author, Rich Dad Poor Dad

P.S. The governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait once hired our friend Larry Benedict. So did the banks that hold money for Exxon, Chevron, and Shell. For decades, he helped the most powerful players in oil grow their money. Now he's revealing his top oil strategy, adapted so ordinary folks can use it too. Watch the free presentation here.