Stephen Moore is 'bummed,' Tucker Carlson angrily cites White House 'weakness' on failed Fed nomination

On Thursday morning, Stephen Moore was "all in" and pumped to fight for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board. Minutes later, President Trump tweeted that Moore had "decided to withdraw" from consideration. On Fox News Thursday evening, Moore told an outraged Tucker Carlson he's "bummed out today because I hate quitting," and while he's "not playing the victim here," "the left" had "launched this character assassination" based on "things that were written 25 years ago," a decade-old divorce settlement, and apparently even old Christmas cards, and he had to bow out.

"The White House never should have given in to this," Carlson said. "They shouldn't have, because it abets more weakness, draws more aggression from these nutcases." "I will say this: Do you know who the biggest fighter, the guy who did not want me to withdraw from this?" Moore said. "Donald J. Trump." "Good, I believe that," Carlson said. "I mean, that's what I love about him," Moore said. "He's a fighter, and I just — at the end, I just had to say I don't know if I can get through this."

Moore did take some responsibility for past comments that Republican senators and others viewed as problematically misogynistic and Moore called "humor." Some of his comments have been "impolitic" and "stupid," he told Carlson, but "I wish there was a statute of limitations on stupidity because some of these things were 25 years old." Moore was also under fire for comments he made earlier this week.

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And it wasn't just Moore's old columns and speeches that sank his nomination — he needed 50 votes, and even with 53 Republican senators, he was going to fall short. Many senators were also uncomfortable with his lack of experience and economic views, like his continued belief that U.S. currency should be tied to gold or other hard commodities. Moore was the second Trump Fed pick to withdraw, along with Herman Cain. Peter Weber