President Donald Trump announced Thursday afternoon that Stephen Moore had withdrawn his nomination for a seat on the Federal Reserve board. An embattled and controversial candidate, Moore follows in the footsteps of Herman Cain, who similarly withdrew his nomination last month.
In a pair of tweets, Trump defended Moore and suggested he might have a future role to play in the administration.
….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
Since his nomination, Moore had attempted to defend or reconcile the litany of racist, sexist, and otherwise offensive comments he had made. This included “joking” that the first thing Trump did as president is “kick a black family out of public housing,” referring to the Obamas.
Moore, who currently works as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, also opposed taking any steps to address women’s wage equality, instead suggesting that “a healthy economy” would somehow address gender equity through the free market.
Republican senators had increasingly expressed concern about Moore’s nomination. They avoided taking positions on whether they’d vote to confirm him, but nebulously described his nomination as being “in trouble.”
As recently as Thursday morning, however, Moore was still expressing confidence about the nomination.
NEWS: “I’m all in,” Trump Fed Board pick Stephen Moore tells Bloomberg News.
“I talked to the White House yesterday,” @StephenMoore said. “They’re all in.” pic.twitter.com/4rjheKpDD7
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 2, 2019
At The Atlantic, David Graham attempted to explain how someone with few qualifications and a dismal public record was nominated in the first place. “Presumably the same way all the other previous candidates with few qualifications or a damaging paper trail did: They were on TV a lot, they had nice things to say about the president, and that was good enough for him,” Graham wrote.
The whims of Trump’s ego apparently could not withstand the amount of scrutiny Moore ultimately faced. In fact, he’s the second Fed nominee in as many weeks to withdraw. Trump had also nominated Herman Cain, who still faces a barrage of sexual harassment and misconduct allegations left unresolved from his last presidential run. And like Moore, his qualifications to oversee the nation’s bank were questionable.