Some Senate Republicans are warning that Herman Cain’s prospects for joining the Fed are slim — to possibly none.
Or, as Politico puts it: “Herman Cain is in deep trouble. And he hasn’t even been formally nominated to the Federal Reserve yet.”
The political website quotes Sen. John Thune (R-SD) as saying that “concerns … are being voiced to the administration about [Cain’s] qualifications.”
Noting that Republicans have “generally waved through Trump’s nominees, Politico says, they are “reluctant to do the same for the Fed, amid fears that Trump’s push to install interest-rate slashing allies will politicize the central bank.”
GOP Senators “are trying to dissuade Trump from a brutal political fight that would highlight intraparty divisions,” it says.
This resistance comes as Senate Republicans are also pressing Trump to halt his purge at the Department of Homeland Security and to “reconsider economy-damaging auto tariffs.”
Trump has said he plans to formally nominate both Cain and conservative economic pundit Stephen Moore to the Fed. Ironically, says Politico, some Republicans think Cain’s troubles “may actually have eased … Moore’s confirmation,” despite Moore’s “own problems with unpaid taxes and partisan reputation.”
After all, Politico says, “Republicans may be hard-pressed to revolt against both of Trump’s nominees.”
But Thune says he thinks the chances of confirming both Cain and Moore “are pretty steep.”
And Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) agrees, saying “I don’t think Herman Cain will be on the Federal Reserve board, no.”
Cain did serve on the Kansas City Federal Reserve board, but he’s better known as the longtime CEO of the Godfather’s Pizza chain, and as a failed presidential candidate in 2012.
“Trump’s intent to nominate Cain marks one of his most brazen moves yet to take on his own party,” says Politico, “coming on the heels of his emergency declaration at the border” against the wishes of GOP senators who stood by him during the government shutdown.
“It’s not clear the president quite realizes the scale of the potential task ahead to confirm his two Fed picks,” the website says. “A half-dozen GOP senators are bracing for competitive races next year and do not want to be seen as Trump’s lackeys. Voting against [Cain and Moore] could help them assert their independence in their voting record.”
