I'll admit that I thought the Senate GOP would confirm Stephen Moore to the Fed, disturbing as that is. Moore is a fool. Whatever else can be said of him, he is intellectually unfit for the job. Whether one could serve on the Fed while being a racist and a misogynist, I'll leave to others. The more salient point, as far as I'm concerned, is that he doesn't know anything.
And the job is a technical one.
Moore took a lot of criticism for his past statements valuing capitalism over democracy, and I wrote a post about that, explaining the political science and economics behind that. There's really something to that position. More importantly, that position is actually critical to the deal that the GOP has struck with Donald Trump. They will tolerate any level of corruption and overall vileness.
As long as Trump doesn't mess with the economy.
The dirty secret of politics is that, for the most part, presidents have little influence on the economy, as I have written before. The most consequential thing they do to affect the economy is appoint members of the Fed.
The Republican Party will let Donald Trump get away with anything.
Except appointing nincompoops to the Fed. That's the deal. This is the line he cannot cross.
If you want to know what people truly value, find out what they will and will not sacrifice. The Republican Party will allow a president to remain in office, quite possibly compromised by Russia. And no, Mueller didn't even investigate that.
Mess with the economy, though? Hold on there, buddy. That's a line they won't cross.