The Plum Line • Opinion
The Stephen Moore farce reveals the depths of GOP cynicism
By Paul Waldman
May 1 at 11:55 AM PT
Stephen Moore. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)
Last week, Herman Cain withdrew from consideration for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, disappointing President Trump, who had suggested the comically ignorant former presidential candidate as a potential steward of the nation’s monetary policy. And now, reports The Post, Trump’s other nominee looks to be in trouble:
President Trump’s effort to reshape the Federal Reserve and accelerate economic growth hit a setback Tuesday as multiple Republican senators criticized or outright rejected the president’s plans to nominate political supporter Stephen Moore.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said she was “very unlikely” to vote for Moore. Several others raised big questions about his potential nomination, including Trump ally Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who called Moore a “problematic” nominee.
Ernst said she didn’t think Moore would be confirmed, adding that “several” senators agree with her on Moore’s unsuitability for one of the nation’s top positions steering the economy. A simple majority is needed to confirm Moore to the Fed board, but with Democrats controlling 47 Senate seats, he can lose precious few Republicans.
At least seven GOP senators have taken issue with Moore’s provocative past columns and statements that have come to light since his name began to circulate publicly as a potential Fed nominee in March.
The “provocative past columns and statements” in question show Moore acting like your average troglodyte conservative, complaining about uppity women who want to play sports and making the kind of jokes we refer to with the gentle euphemism “racially charged.” The controversy this has engendered has apparently given a few Republican senators pause.
But what’s truly striking about the whole Moore affair is this: that Moore is desperately, blatantly, appallingly unqualified to be allowed within a hundred miles of the body making monetary policy was perfectly fine with Republicans. It’s only these arguably irrelevant statements (repugnant though they may be) that have a few GOP senators saying they might vote against him.
Let’s step back for some context. Presidents often grumble about the Fed, since their interest lies in juicing the economy as much as possible in the short run, while the Fed is tasked with doing what is best for the economy over the long run. Sometimes what the president wants is the best thing to do in a particular moment, and sometimes it isn’t. But Republicans are particularly shameless in advocating that the central bank serve the interests of Republican presidents and undermine the interests of Democratic presidents.
You may recall that when he was running for the White House in 2011, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said that if the Fed injected more money into the economy to aid the recovery from the Great Recession, it would be “treasonous in my opinion,” because it could have helped President Barack Obama get reelected.
It’s always concerning when the president chooses unqualified political operatives to important positions. But this is especially true about the Federal Reserve Board, which should be independent. Post columnist Catherine Rampell says that's exactly why President Trump’s choices of failed GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain and professional Trump surrogate Stephen Moore are so troubling. (Joshua Carroll ,Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)
There may be no one who has been more shameless in swinging back and forth on their opinions of Fed policy than Stephen Moore, who has been a pundit advocating trickle-down economics for many years. In a recent example of his ideas being put into action, he advised Sam Brownback, then the governor of Kansas, to institute a radical tax-cutting program that Moore promised would supercharge the state’s economy. Instead, Kansas underperformed the national economy and the state was starved of tax revenue, leading to brutal cuts in services and eventually the election of a Democratic governor in the conservative state to clean up Brownback’s mess.
But being proven completely wrong never leads Moore to change his views, which is perhaps why he still commands so much affection in the GOP. As he tries to save his Fed nomination, Moore insists that all the stuff about his old comments and columns is just a distraction thrown up by his political opponents to divert attention from his economic views, which are what we really should focus on.
The Post’s Catherine Rampell has done multiple columns exposing those economic views. There’s Moore’s embrace of crank ideas like the gold standard. Then there’s his insistence (when there’s a Republican in the White House) that we’re experiencing deflation and that the economy requires a boost, followed by an equally vociferous insistence (when there’s a Democrat in the White House) that we’re about to experience hyperinflation and therefore the economy must be slowed. Though Moore regularly appears on op-ed pages around the country, the editor of one editorial page announced that she would no longer publish anything written by him because his columns are so filled with factual errors.
That this is all fine with Trump, who has made more than 10,000 misleading statements and outright lies since taking office, surprises no one. But it’s also fine with pretty much the entire Republican Party, or at least its elected members. You could no doubt find Republican economists who are aghast at the thought of a hack like Moore sitting on the Fed board, but he would have probably been confirmed were it not for his colorful views on women and minorities.
Let’s also be clear about what Cain’s and Moore’s nominations represented: a frontal assault on the independence of the Federal Reserve, in keeping with Trump’s belief that there should be no institution of government that exists for anything other than to serve his interests, either personal or political. That, too, is a project all Republicans have enthusiastically embraced.
So let’s not give the party too much credit for backing away from Moore, if that is indeed what it is doing. Republicans wanted him on the board to serve the interests of the GOP and not the country, and if Trump finds someone equally hackish who presents himself as less of an obvious fool, they’ll be more than happy to support that person.
Paul Waldman is an opinion writer for the Plum Line blog.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
The Stephen Moore farce reveals the depths of GOP cynicism
By Paul Waldman
May 1 at 11:55 AM PT
Stephen Moore. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)
Last week, Herman Cain withdrew from consideration for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, disappointing President Trump, who had suggested the comically ignorant former presidential candidate as a potential steward of the nation’s monetary policy. And now, reports The Post, Trump’s other nominee looks to be in trouble:
President Trump’s effort to reshape the Federal Reserve and accelerate economic growth hit a setback Tuesday as multiple Republican senators criticized or outright rejected the president’s plans to nominate political supporter Stephen Moore.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said she was “very unlikely” to vote for Moore. Several others raised big questions about his potential nomination, including Trump ally Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who called Moore a “problematic” nominee.
Ernst said she didn’t think Moore would be confirmed, adding that “several” senators agree with her on Moore’s unsuitability for one of the nation’s top positions steering the economy. A simple majority is needed to confirm Moore to the Fed board, but with Democrats controlling 47 Senate seats, he can lose precious few Republicans.
At least seven GOP senators have taken issue with Moore’s provocative past columns and statements that have come to light since his name began to circulate publicly as a potential Fed nominee in March.
The “provocative past columns and statements” in question show Moore acting like your average troglodyte conservative, complaining about uppity women who want to play sports and making the kind of jokes we refer to with the gentle euphemism “racially charged.” The controversy this has engendered has apparently given a few Republican senators pause.
But what’s truly striking about the whole Moore affair is this: that Moore is desperately, blatantly, appallingly unqualified to be allowed within a hundred miles of the body making monetary policy was perfectly fine with Republicans. It’s only these arguably irrelevant statements (repugnant though they may be) that have a few GOP senators saying they might vote against him.
Let’s step back for some context. Presidents often grumble about the Fed, since their interest lies in juicing the economy as much as possible in the short run, while the Fed is tasked with doing what is best for the economy over the long run. Sometimes what the president wants is the best thing to do in a particular moment, and sometimes it isn’t. But Republicans are particularly shameless in advocating that the central bank serve the interests of Republican presidents and undermine the interests of Democratic presidents.
You may recall that when he was running for the White House in 2011, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said that if the Fed injected more money into the economy to aid the recovery from the Great Recession, it would be “treasonous in my opinion,” because it could have helped President Barack Obama get reelected.
It’s always concerning when the president chooses unqualified political operatives to important positions. But this is especially true about the Federal Reserve Board, which should be independent. Post columnist Catherine Rampell says that's exactly why President Trump’s choices of failed GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain and professional Trump surrogate Stephen Moore are so troubling. (Joshua Carroll ,Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)
There may be no one who has been more shameless in swinging back and forth on their opinions of Fed policy than Stephen Moore, who has been a pundit advocating trickle-down economics for many years. In a recent example of his ideas being put into action, he advised Sam Brownback, then the governor of Kansas, to institute a radical tax-cutting program that Moore promised would supercharge the state’s economy. Instead, Kansas underperformed the national economy and the state was starved of tax revenue, leading to brutal cuts in services and eventually the election of a Democratic governor in the conservative state to clean up Brownback’s mess.
But being proven completely wrong never leads Moore to change his views, which is perhaps why he still commands so much affection in the GOP. As he tries to save his Fed nomination, Moore insists that all the stuff about his old comments and columns is just a distraction thrown up by his political opponents to divert attention from his economic views, which are what we really should focus on.
The Post’s Catherine Rampell has done multiple columns exposing those economic views. There’s Moore’s embrace of crank ideas like the gold standard. Then there’s his insistence (when there’s a Republican in the White House) that we’re experiencing deflation and that the economy requires a boost, followed by an equally vociferous insistence (when there’s a Democrat in the White House) that we’re about to experience hyperinflation and therefore the economy must be slowed. Though Moore regularly appears on op-ed pages around the country, the editor of one editorial page announced that she would no longer publish anything written by him because his columns are so filled with factual errors.
That this is all fine with Trump, who has made more than 10,000 misleading statements and outright lies since taking office, surprises no one. But it’s also fine with pretty much the entire Republican Party, or at least its elected members. You could no doubt find Republican economists who are aghast at the thought of a hack like Moore sitting on the Fed board, but he would have probably been confirmed were it not for his colorful views on women and minorities.
Let’s also be clear about what Cain’s and Moore’s nominations represented: a frontal assault on the independence of the Federal Reserve, in keeping with Trump’s belief that there should be no institution of government that exists for anything other than to serve his interests, either personal or political. That, too, is a project all Republicans have enthusiastically embraced.
So let’s not give the party too much credit for backing away from Moore, if that is indeed what it is doing. Republicans wanted him on the board to serve the interests of the GOP and not the country, and if Trump finds someone equally hackish who presents himself as less of an obvious fool, they’ll be more than happy to support that person.
Paul Waldman is an opinion writer for the Plum Line blog.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
