Herman Cain is officially out of consideration for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board after it was clear Republicans in the Senate would not support his candidacy, according to The Washington Post.
Donald Trump tweeted the news:
Cain, who ran for the GOP nomination for president in 2012, would have pretty much needed every Republican to back his nomination. But four Republicans said they would not vote for him, which made it a near-forgone conclusion that Trump didn’t have enough votes to push Cain over the threshold needed to be confirmed. Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, and no Democrat was expected to back him.
His confirmation was an uphill battle from the start because he has more baggage than an airport full of fight delays. For one, economists, lawmakers and Wall Street investors questioned his credentials—a common critique of Trump appointees and the president himself—for the central bank. Another issue is the sexual harassment allegations from his 2012 presidential run that forced him to end his campaign. He has denied the allegations, but one of his accusers had agreed to testify at his confirmation hearing had it taken place.
Here is a little background on why Trump wanted Cain on the board, per The Post:
Trump was irate after the Fed raised interest rates multiple times in 2018, hikes that wound down the central bank’s decade-long effort to boost economic growth and fight unemployment after the Great Recession. The increases were aimed at guarding against future inflation and preserving the Fed’s ability to fight a future downturn, but Trump accused the central bank of unnecessarily constraining growth and triggering the stock market sell-off late last year.
Cain and Stephen Moore, Trump’s other planned pick to fill the remaining seats on the 7-member Fed board and another friend of the president’s, said they support lowering interest rates, a move that would boost growth in the run up to the president’s reelection campaign.
Trump has launched a series of attacks on the Fed, exhorting it to change course in a break with his immediate predecessors, who typically refrained from publicly weighing in on central bank policy to protect the Fed’s credibility.
As for Moore, CNN reports that he has a history making sexist remarks about women, saying that they should be banned from March Madness, according to a 2002 column in the conservative National Review:
“Here’s the rule change I propose: No more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer venders, no women anything,” he wrote 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.” He later wrote that Bernstein, a CBS sports journalist at the time, should wear halter tops.
And the column has more sexist commentary:
“How outrageous is this? This year they allowed a woman ref a men’s NCAA game. Liberals celebrate this breakthrough as a triumph for gender equity,” Moore wrote. “The NCAA has been touting this as example of how progressive they are. I see it as an obscenity. Is there no area in life where men can take vacation from women? What’s next? Women invited to bachelor parties? Women in combat? (Oh yeah, they’ve done that already.) Why can’t women ref the women’s games and men the men’s games. I can’t wait to see the first lady ref have a run in with Bobby Knight.”
You can read the CNN report for more background on Moore’s sexism, but I think you get the point. Trump, who has his own very detailed history of sexual harassment and assault allegations, has a habit of saying sexist things about women publicly. Makes sense that Trump would buddy with and try to give jobs to, well, sexist men and men accused of sexual harassment.
Cain didn’t make the cut this time. Maybe Moore is soon to follow.
We’ll see.