by ARWA MAHDAWI
Economic commentator and former Trump campaign adviser has a long history of making offensive comments about women
Donald Trump’s attempts to fill the vacancies on the Federal Reserve board are not going very well. On Monday, Herman Cain, a pizza mogul, withdrew from consideration, after facing widespread opposition from senators worried about his political activism and history of sexual harassment accusations. Cain, for his part, said he had decided not to proceed because the $183,100 salary would be a big pay cut. The poor guy would probably have to dip into his savings to survive.
Now that Cain is out of the picture, the focus has turned to Stephen Moore, another of Trump’s picks for the job. CNN dug up some of Moore’s old columns and, in news that will surprise nobody, it turns out the economic commentator and former Trump campaign adviser, has a long history of making misogynistic statements.
A 2002 column of his for the National Review, for example, sets out his views on the role women should play in men’s college basketball. “Here’s the rule change I propose: No more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer venders, no women anything.” Like all rules, this one has an exception: “Women are permitted to participate, if and only if, they look like Bonnie Bernstein,” Moore wrote. He also suggested the sports journalist should do her job while wearing a halter top.
It’s not just basketball that Moore has strong views on. In a 2000 column, Moore complained: “The women tennis pros don’t really want equal pay for equal work. They want equal pay for inferior work … If there is an injustice in tennis, it’s that women like Martina Hingis and Monica Seles make millions of dollars a year, even though there are hundreds of men at the collegiate level … who could beat them handily.”
There are many more offensive quotes but, according to Moore, you shouldn’t worry about them too much because he was just joking. “This was a spoof,” Moore said in a statement to CNN. “I have a sense of humor.” Moore also complained that the media is trying to sabotage his nomination. “They can’t defeat me based on my qualifications or my economic ideas so they resort to character assassination,” Moore told rightwing website the Daily Caller.
Perhaps he has a point. To be fair and balanced, one ought to ensure his misogynistic views are presented alongside his economic ideas. So here’s a quick rundown of these ideas:
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Women earning more than men would disrupt family stability
In a 2014 article for the National Review Moore writes: “What are the implications of a society in which women earn more than men? We don’t really know, but it could be disruptive to family stability. If men aren’t the breadwinners, will women regard them as economically expendable?”
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Social security has gone too far
During an appearance on CNN in 1992, Moore reportedly said: “Well, we’ve probably gone too far in providing the safety net for the elderly. To a large extent, we’ve started a system in this country where we are taxing struggling middle-class families that are young to provide lavish government benefits for people over 65.”
The Guardian for more