Conservative economic commentator and political activist Stephen Moore is no longer in consideration for a spot on the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, President Trump said Thursday.
“Steve Moore, a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process,” President Trump tweeted. “Steve won the battle of ideas including Tax Cuts……..and deregulation which have produced non-inflationary prosperity for all Americans. I’ve asked Steve to work with me toward future economic growth in our Country.”
….and deregulation which have produced non-inflationary prosperity for all Americans. I’ve asked Steve to work with me toward future economic growth in our Country.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2019
Moore, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, had told the Washington Examiner Wednesday that he wasn’t dropping out of consideration for the nomination despite signs of weak support from Senate Republicans and that he had the backing of the president. He also said, though, that he would withdraw his nomination if its was going to be a difficult vote for lawmakers including Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who stated her opposition to Moore’s nomination earlier this week.
Moore’s departure marks the second time in two weeks that Trump has had to abandon a pick for the Fed. Herman Cain, who ran in the 2012 Republican primary, also withdrew his nomination for the Fed board last month, after some Republican lawmakers said they wouldn’t vote for him.
Moore, in a letter to Trump Thursday provided to the Washington Examiner by his publicist, said that he was withdrawing because the “unrelenting attacks on my character have become untenable for me and my family and 3 more months of this would be too hard on us.” He also said that he would continue to advocate for Trump’s economic policies and that “Trumponomics has been VINDICATED.”
Moore was a controversial nominee because of his lack of expertise relevant to the Fed and his history of partisan activism and his boosterism of Trump’s favored policies for the Fed. He also drew criticism recently because of reports about unpaid taxes and child support and past comments made about women. For example, he advocated preventing women from participating in men’s sporting events because sports are “where men can take vacation from women.”
“Here’s the rule change I propose: No more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer venders, no women anything,” he wrote for conservative magazine National Review in March 2002. “There is, of course, an exception to this rule. Women are permitted to participate, if and only if, they look like Bonnie Bernstein. The fact that Bonnie knows nothing about basketball is entirely irrelevant.”
Moore was referring to journalist Bonnie Bernstein, who has been named one of the most accomplished female sportscasters in history by the American Sportscasters Association.
More recently, Moore made controversial comments at an event in November 2016 shortly after President Trump was elected.
“By the way, did you see, there’s that great cartoon going along? A New York Times headline: ‘First Thing Donald Trump Does As President Is Kick a Black Family Out of Public Housing,’ and it has Obama leaving the White House. I mean, I just love that one. Just a great one,” Moore said.
Moore, who said in a recent interview with “Firing Line With Margaret Hoover” that “there should be a statute of limitations on saying stupid things,” has apologized for the comments on several occasions.
“These articles you’re talking about were 17, 18 years ago. They were humor columns, but some of them weren’t funny, so I am apologetic,” Moore said in one interview with ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” last month.
