Stephen Moore

Stephenย Moore

Credentials

Stephen Moore is a graduate of the University of Illinois and holds an MA in Economics from George Mason University.1Stephen Moore. โ€œPutting Taxpayers First: A Federal Budget Plan to Benefit the Next Generation of American Taxpayersโ€ (PDF), Institute for Policy Innovation, February, 2004. Archived .pdf on file atย DeSmog.

Background

Stephen K Moore is the founder and former Presidentย of the Club for Growth andย a visiting fellow at the โ€œarch-conservativeโ€œย Heritage Foundation.2โ€œMoore Passes Torch to Toomey,โ€ย The Club For Growth, January 6, 2005. Archived March 6, 2005. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/Bnb6Hย Mooreย has held a wide range of positions at conservative think tanksย includingย the Cato Instituteย (former senior fellow), the Media Research Center (former advisor), and Donors Capital Fund (former director). In 2016, Moore was chosen to become part of Donald Trump’s Economic Advisory Team.3Rachael Bade. โ€œStephen Moore to huddle with Houseย GOPย whips,โ€ย Politico, November 14, 2016. Archived November 14, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/ywwdJ

Stephen Moore previously served as Senior Economist for the Joint Economic Committee under Chairman Dick Armey of Texas (former chair of FreedomWorks) and Research Director of President Reaganโ€™s commission on Privatization in 1987.4Stephen Moore. โ€œPutting Taxpayers First: A Federal Budget Plan to Benefit the Next Generation of American Taxpayersโ€ (PDF), Institute for Policy Innovation, February, 2004. Archived .pdf on file atย DeSmog.

Stephen Moore, who has called climate change โ€œclimate improvement,โ€ย has repeatedlyย cited the debunked Oregon Petition as well as Bjorn Lomborg‘s โ€œCopenhagen Consensusโ€ to suggest there is still a debate on climate science. Moreย has also called anyone who believes in man-made climate change โ€œStalinistic.โ€5โ€œDenier Stephen Moore says climate change is ‘climate improvement’ and ‘the truth is the 1930s was a warmer decade than the last decade’,โ€ย ThinkProgress, June 20, 2009. Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/t3hNI

Moore is co-author, withย Kathleen Hartnett-Whiteย (who also serves on Trump’s Economic Advisory Team) ofย Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy.ย According to aย review of the book inย American Thinker, โ€œRather than worrying that carbon energy resources are destroying the planet and looking to renewable energy as an alternative, the authors suggest we should celebrate the vast contributions fossil fuels made during the past century.โ€6Janet Levy. โ€œGreen Energy Revolution Folly,โ€ย American Thinker, September 19, 2016. Archived November 13, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/xJOAx

Moore, a regular Fox News contributor, has compared fracking to a cure for cancer in the past,7โ€œTrump Adviser Stephen Moore Compares Fracking To ‘The Cure For Cancer’,โ€ Media Matters, August 2, 2016. Archived.mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/XUrEb and has also distorted a NASA study to claim that it was an โ€œindicationโ€ that global warming is โ€œactually not happening.โ€8Denise Robbins. โ€œNASAย Scientist Warned Deniers Would Distort His Antarctic Ice Study โ€“ That’s Exactly What They Did,โ€ย Media Matters, November 4, 2015. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/O9olI

On March 22, 2019, President Donald Trump announced he planned to nominate Stephen Moore for a position on the federal reserve.ย Trump called Moore โ€œa very respectedโ€ economist who he has known โ€œfor a long time โ€” and have no doubt he will be an outstanding choice!โ€ CNBC reported.9โ€œTrump says he will nominate Fed critic Stephen Moore for central bank appointment,โ€ย CNBC, March 22, 2019.ย Archived March 22, 2019. Archive.foย URL:ย https://archive.fo/7EJxM Moore later withdrew himself from consideration.10Jon Swaine. โ€œStephen Moore: Trump’s Federal Reserve pick withdraws nomination,โ€ย The Guardian, May 2, 2019. Archived December 2, 2020. Archiveย URL:ย https://archive.vn/RtTe7

Donald Trump’s Economicย Advisor

Stephen Moore wasย chosen asย Donald Trump’sย campaign adviserย and was picked by Trump,11Rachael Bade. โ€œStephen Moore to huddle with Houseย GOPย whips,โ€ย Politico, November 14, 2016. Archived November 14, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/ywwdJ along with CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow, to re-write Trump’sย tax plan.12โ€œTrump launches tax plan rewrite,โ€ย Politico,ย May 11, 2016. Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/ZDvE1 He has been on Trump’s โ€œEconomic Advisory Council.โ€13โ€œTRUMPย ECONOMICย ADVISORYย COUNCILโ€ (PDF), donaldjtrump.com. Archived .pdf on file atย DeSmog.

โ€œWhat weโ€™ve been trying to do is help advise him a little bit to try to reduce the cost of the plan,โ€ Moore said in an interview.14โ€œTrump launches tax plan rewrite,โ€ย Politico,ย May 11, 2016. Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/ZDvE1

E&E News notedย that โ€œSince Moore came on board this spring to advise Trump on his tax plan, heโ€™s been encouraging Trump to hit back against Democratsโ€™ claims that the transition to more wind and solar energy will be good for the economy and the environment.โ€15Ben Adler. โ€œThis Trump advisor might be even more confused about climate and energy than Trump himself,โ€ย Grist,ย September 9, 2016.ย Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/fSdCf 16Hannah Hess. โ€œEconomic adviser pushes Trump to throw more punches on energy,โ€ย E&Eย News, September 7, 2016.ย Archived November 15, 2016.ย Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/WuRg3

Moore wrote a February 2016 article inย The American Spectatorย featuring a glowing review of Donaldย Trump:

โ€œMeanwhile, Trump surges. His splendid victory speech last night, โ€Žwas all about love of country โ€“ about patriotism,โ€ Mooreย wrote.

โ€œIt is striking that Trump is the anti-Obama in every way. Obama blames America first for every problem on the earth, from global warming to terrorism. Trump emanates love for America and pledges to โ€œmake America greatย again.โ€

[โ€ฆ]

The rub against Trump that he can’t win in November looks to be wrong. Trump certainly has some profound defects and his problem with minorities and women cannot be ignored. โ€ŽHe’s unpredictable and sometimesย crude.

On the other hand, Trump could expand the Republican base to include independents and union Democratic voters. Trump is also getting better each day as he expands his base rather than shrinking it. Trumpmania is a Black Swann political event that we’ve never seen before and may not ever see again.โ€17Stephen Moore. โ€œAmerica Trumpted,โ€ย The American Spectator, February 11, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/L2Nu3

Criticism

Stephen Moore’s critics have called Moore a ย โ€œA voodoo economist โ€ฆ [who uses] especially devious methods to torture the data,โ€ (The New Republic‘s Jonathan Chait),18Jonathan Chait.ย โ€œLess is Moore,โ€ย The New Republic, June 30, 1997. Archived January 11, 2003. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/UguLdย with a career โ€œmarked by a pattern of errors, deception and falsehood,โ€ (Brendan Nyhan and Ben Fritz)19Brendan Nyhan and Ben Fritz. โ€œThe deceptive advocacy of Stephen Moore,โ€ย Spinsanity, September 22, 2003. Archived November 14, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/RwRY1. Economist Brad DeLong said that โ€œMoore has zero credibility.โ€20J. Bradford Delong. โ€œCranks and Charlatans,โ€ย Semi-Daily Journal, March 1, 2003.ย Archived November 14, 2016.ย Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/xx3u7

Economist Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) responded toย Mooreโ€™s claim that โ€œright-to-workโ€ laws would offer extra protection to workers in Wisconsin in a March 2, 2015, op-ed in The Washington Post:21Jared Bernstein. โ€œRight to work for less: Gov. Scott Walker wants to lower worker pay in Wisconsin,โ€ย The Washington Post, March 2, 2015. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/jzv2g

โ€œWorkers in a bargaining unit in non-RTW states donโ€™t even have to pay full union dues. If they object to, say, the unionโ€™s political activities, they can pay reduced dues that cover only the costs of negotiating and enforcing the contract. Since thatโ€™s most of what local unions do, by the way, such fees amount to 80 percent to 90 percent of fullย dues.

So when Steve Moore of the Heritage Foundation claims that workers in non-RTW states ‘can be compelled to join a union and pay dues at a union shop whether they wish to or not’ย or that they โ€œcan even be forced to pay union dues for partisan political activities with which they donโ€™t agree,โ€ heโ€™s deep within a fact-free zone.โ€22Jared Bernstein. โ€œRight to work for less: Gov. Scott Walker wants to lower worker pay in Wisconsin,โ€ย The Washington Post, March 2, 2015. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/jzv2g

In a 2015ย New York Timesย blog post, Paul Krugman investigated theย โ€œmysteryโ€ of Mooreโ€™s successful career in economic policy, concluding that Mooreย is not held accountable for consistently making bad predictions and misstating basic facts about the economy because โ€œincompetence is actually desirableโ€ in his field:23โ€œThe Mystery of Moore,โ€ย New York Timesย (Blog), February 18, 2015. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/xo4Mx

โ€œBut hereโ€™s the mystery: evidently Moore has had a successful career.ย Why?

Think about Heritage: Itโ€™s immensely wealthy, and could surely afford to hire a technically competent right-wing hack. The Wall Street Journal, similarly, could have attracted someone much less likely to trip over his own intellectual shoelaces. Again, the problem isnโ€™t even that Moore got the macroeconomics of recent years all wrong, although he did; itโ€™s the inability to write without making embarrassingย mistakes.

So why is he there (and heโ€™s not alone โ€” there are some other incompetent hacks atย Heritage)?

I suspect that the incompetence is actually desirable at some level โ€” a smart hack might turn honest, or something, But itโ€™s remarkable.โ€24โ€œThe Mystery of Moore,โ€ย New York Timesย (Blog), February 18, 2015. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/xo4Mx

The editorial page director of the Kansas City Starย saidย that she โ€œwonโ€™t be running anything else from Stephen Mooreโ€ after she discovered โ€œsubstantial factual errorsโ€ in an Op-Ed that Moore had written criticizingย economist Paul Krugman.25Deron Lee. โ€œWhy one editor wonโ€™t run any more op-eds by the Heritage Foundationโ€™s top economist,โ€ย Columbia Journalism Review, July 31, 2014.ย Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/YHAIG

Stance on Climateย Change

June 3,ย 2016

In an interview on the Janet Mefford Today Show, Moore described global warming as โ€œone of the greatest propaganda campaigns in world historyโ€ and a โ€œdingbat idea,โ€ CNSNews.com reported.26Michael W. Chapman. โ€œStephen Moore: Climate Change ‘One of Greatest Propaganda Campaigns in World Historyโ€™โ€“’Very Stalinistic’,โ€ cnsnews.com, June 9, 2016. Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/DdOeT

โ€œItโ€™s really amazing, I have to say. I have to tip my hat to the left: This has been one of the greatest propaganda campaigns in world history that the left has pulled off,โ€ Moore said.27Michael W. Chapman. โ€œStephen Moore: Climate Change ‘One of Greatest Propaganda Campaigns in World Historyโ€™โ€“’Very Stalinistic’,โ€ cnsnews.com, June 9, 2016. Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/DdOeT

โ€œI mean, theyโ€™ve taken this dingbat idea of global climate change and theyโ€™ve put it in the schools, theyโ€™ve put it in the movies, theyโ€™ve put it in the media and the churches โ€” you know, Iโ€™m Catholic, even the Pope talks about climateย change.โ€

ย โ€œSo, itโ€™s very alarming how this propaganda campaign, that they made this stuff out of, almost completely out of thin air and theyโ€™ve convinced millions and millions of thought leaders that this stuff isย real.โ€

โ€œThey’re becoming more militaristic. They are young Stalinists. I can’t go on college campuses today even question their religion of global warming โ€” and it is a religion by the way.โ€28Michael W. Chapman. โ€œStephen Moore: Climate Change ‘One of Greatest Propaganda Campaigns in World Historyโ€™โ€“’Very Stalinistic’,โ€ cnsnews.com, June 9, 2016. Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/DdOeT

Keyย Quotes

February 14,ย 2018

โ€œWe need a change in strategy and philosophy when it comes to mining. For federal land development, the 20th-century philosophy of ‘lock up and preserve’ย needs to be replaced with an ethic of ‘use and explore.’ย We have hundreds of years of these resources with existing technology,โ€ Moore wrote at theย Daily Journal in an article titled โ€œLet’s make America a mineral superpower.โ€29โ€œStephen Moore: Let’s make America a mineral superpower,โ€ย Daily Journal, February 14, 2018. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/8zSq8

January 28,ย 2018

Moore suggested that President Donald Trump may be the reason for a boost in the economy, and that โ€œthe economy was decelerating at the end of the Obama presidencyโ€:30โ€œItโ€™s Trumpโ€™s Economy Now,โ€The New York Times, Janaury 28, 2018. Archived February 20, 2018. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/MB6eW

โ€œIf Mr. Trump had continued Mr. Obamaโ€™s policies, one might not credit him for todayโ€™s strong economy. But Mr. Trump has begun to systematically overturn Obama policies on taxes, regulations, energy, climate change, net neutrality, budget priorities and health care โ€” as well as replacing Janet Yellen as chairwoman of the Federal Reserve. Trumponomics is Obamanomics in reverse,โ€ Moore wrote at theย New York Times.

November 15,ย 2016

โ€œWe have the cleanest coal in the world,โ€ Moore said on Fox Business’sย Varney & Co.31โ€œTrump Adviser Stephen Moore: ‘We Have The Cleanest Coal In The World’,โ€ย Media Matters for Americas, November 15, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/fouHO

September 2016

Media Mattersย reportedย that a week after Stephen Moore said that Donald Trump’s economic plan was designed to be vague, he contradicted himself by sayingย  it was the โ€œmost detailedโ€ plan of any candidate:32โ€œTrump Adviser Canโ€™t Decide If Candidate Is ‘Too Specific’ Or Intentionally Vague,โ€ย Media Matters, September 6, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/5JXhZ

โ€œBut, back to this idea that there’s no detailed plan, because I never really answered your question about that. We’ve put forward the most detailed economic plan, I think, of any candidate in 40 years. I mean, we’ve got a very detailed tax plan.โ€33โ€œTrump Adviser Canโ€™t Decide If Candidate Is ‘Too Specific’ Or Intentionally Vague,โ€ย Media Matters, September 6, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/5JXhZ

August 1,ย 2016

On the August 1 edition of C-SPAN2‘Sย Book TV, Moore compared fracking to a cure for cancer, Media Mattersย reported.

โ€œNow, look, to be against fracking is like being against a cure for cancer. This is one of the great seismic technological breakthroughs. We’re way ahead of the rest of the world. It’s giving us access to huge amounts of energy at very low prices. How could anybody be against this?โ€34โ€œTrump Adviser Stephen Moore Compares Fracking To ‘The Cure For Cancer’,โ€ Media Matters, August 2, 2016. Archived.mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/XUrEb

July 2016

Appearing on the July 29 edition of Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto, Moore declared:35โ€œOn Fox, Trump Economic Advisor Steve Moore Defends Tax Reductions For Top One Percent,โ€ย Media Matters,ย July 29, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/eyzgt

โ€œNow, why not tax the rich? I’ll tell the mayor why not. When you talk about those people in the top one percent, Mayor, you know this, over half of them, nearly 2/3rds of them, are small business owners, investors, and operators. How are you going to get more businesses and how are you going to get more jobs, Mr. Mayor, if you’re going to tax the very businesses that create theย jobs?โ€

March 15,ย 2015

โ€œI am no scientist, but Iโ€™m highly skeptical of a movement whose first advice is to steer the U.S. economy off a cliff toward financial ruin,โ€ Moore wrote in aย Washington Times Article.36Stephen Moore. โ€œThe myth of ‘settled science’,โ€ย The Washington Times, March 15, 2015. Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:https://archive.is/YlZ31

Octoberย 2013

โ€œHydraulic fracturing is like the equivalent in health care for a cure for cancer,โ€ Moore declared on Fox News’sย Happening Now.37โ€œWSJ’s Stephen Moore: Fracking Is ‘Like The Equivalent In Health Care Of A Cure For Cancer’,โ€ย Media Matters, October 3, 2013. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/tawvT

May 10,ย 2011

โ€œThe problem I have with though, this circles back to the whole issue of when we pay for gasoline at the pump. If you raise the taxes on gasoline and oil, the price of gasoline and oil isn’t going to go down. The price of gasoline and oil is going to go up,โ€ Moore declared on an edition of Fox News’sย Happening Now.38Jocelyn Fong. โ€œConservative Media Defend Tax Breaks For Big Oil With False Claim About Gas Prices,โ€ย Media Matters, May 10, 2011. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/uf26T

Aprilย 2011

On Glenn Beck’s podcast, Moore said that โ€œRadical Environmentalistsโ€ Are โ€œPlot[ting]โ€ To โ€œGrind The American Economy To A Halt.โ€39โ€œWSJ’s Moore In Beck Webcast: ‘Radical Environmentalists’ Are ‘Plot[ting]’ To ‘Grind The American Economy To A Halt‘,โ€ Media Matters. Archived .mov on file atย DeSmog.

Marchย 2011

โ€œI hope, I sincerely hope the president doesn’t really believe that we can engine and power a $15 trillion industrial economy with windmills. It ain’t going to happen,โ€ Moore said on Fox News’sย Hannity.40โ€œObama Finds Time forย NCAAย Bracket, Golf Amid Global Turmoil,โ€ Fox News, March 15, 2011.ย Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/MVeYQ 41Jill Fitzsimmons. โ€œMythsย &ย Facts About Wind Power,โ€ย Media Matters, May 25, 2012. Archive.isย URL:https://archive.is/xfyllย 

February 7,ย 2011

โ€œI love the idea of eliminating entire agencies like the Department of Energy,โ€ Moore declared on Fox News’sย America’s Newsroom.42โ€œSteve Moore: ‘I Love The Idea Of Eliminating Entire Agencies’,โ€ Media Matters, February 7, 2011. Archived .mp4 on file atย DeSmog.

Juneย 2009

Stephen Moore called a recent white house climate impacts report โ€œStalinisticโ€:

โ€œWhat I object to about this report is some of the language in this is sort of almost Stalinistic, that thereโ€™s an unequivocal conclusion that itโ€™s inarguable that this is happening, that thereโ€™s overwhelming agreement among the scientists. None of that isย true.โ€

โ€œWeโ€™ve talked about global warming as climate improvement. [โ€ฆ] The good news is that the bad news is wrong.โ€43โ€œDenier Stephen Moore says climate change is ‘climate improvement’ and ‘the truth is the 1930s was a warmer decade than the last decade’,โ€ย ThinkProgress, June 20, 2009. Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/t3hNI

Keyย Actions

February 8, 2022

Moore published an op-ed in the Bakersfield Californian that claimed:44STEPHEN MOORE: Why are liberals so miserable?Bakersfield.com, February 8, 2022. Archived July 19, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/s1cQN

โ€œLiberals โ€ฆ live their lives in fear. Liberals are much more likely to believe that global warming will doom us than are conservatives. To listen to some of the more fanatical climate change worriers, they seem almost to want global warming to happen so we can pay penance for our sins to the planet.โ€ย 

Moore likened this to beliefs about the pandemic. He wrote that, โ€œfrom the start of the pandemic until recently, liberals were twice as likely to be โ€˜very worriedโ€™ about COVID-19 than conservatives.โ€ He explained these observations as โ€œsomething sociologically different about how liberals view risks than conservatives.โ€

December 7,ย 2019

Moore wrote an op-ed for the Washington Times calling for an end to electric vehicle tax rebates. Moore claimed that EV tax credits were subsidizing wealthy car buyers in New York and California, and that they did not benefit the average consumer.45Stephen Moore. โ€œCongress must stop subsidizing wealthy car buyers,โ€ย Washington Times, December 7, 2019. Archived December 7, 2019. Archive.isย URL:ย http://archive.is/wip/5NKAy

โ€œRather than unworkable wealth taxes on Americaโ€™s millionaires and billionaires,โ€ Moore wrote, โ€œwouldnโ€™t it be better if Mrs.ย Pelosiย and Mr.ย Schumerย stopped subsidizing them?โ€46Stephen Moore. โ€œCongress must stop subsidizing wealthy car buyers,โ€ย Washington Times, December 7, 2019. Archived December 7, 2019. Archive.isย URL:ย http://archive.is/wip/5NKAyย  ย  ย  ย  ย  ย  ย  ย ย ย  ย  ย  ย  ย ย ย ย 

May 9,ย 2019

Stephen Moore, representing the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, signed on to anย open letterย organized by the American Energy Alliance designed to fightย against an electric vehicle tax credit.47โ€œDear Senator Grassley, Senator Wyden, Representative Neal and Representative Brady:โ€ May 9, 2019. Retrieved fromย The Daily Caller.

โ€œThe American Energy Alliance has organized a coalition to proclaim in one unified voice that there should be no expansion of the misguided electric vehicle tax credit,โ€ Thomas Pyle wrote in a statement, quoted at The Daily Caller. โ€œThere is no question that the electric vehicle tax credit distorts the auto market to no gain.”48Christ White. โ€œCONSERVATIVESย WARNย LAWMAKERS:ย TESLAโ€™Sย TAXย CREDITSย โ€˜OVERWHELMINGLYย BENEFITย THEย RICHโ€™,โ€The Daily Caller, May 9, 2019. Archived May 9, 2019. Archive.foย URL:ย https://archive.fo/qzvF3

According to Pyle and others who signed the letter, electric vehicle tax credits โ€œoverwhelmingly benefit the rich.โ€ย DeSmog’sย Koch vs. Cleanย projectย has systematically debunked this, among other well-rehearsed talking points and misinformation put forward by industry about electric vehicles.49Christ White. โ€œCONSERVATIVESย WARNย LAWMAKERS:ย TESLAโ€™Sย TAXย CREDITSย โ€˜OVERWHELMINGLYย BENEFITย THEย RICHโ€™,โ€The Daily Caller, May 9, 2019. Archived May 9, 2019. Archive.foย URL:ย https://archive.fo/qzvF3

The letter cites research by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a group that has received over $600,000 from ExxonMobil and millions from โ€œdark moneyโ€ groups DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund.50Christ White. โ€œCONSERVATIVESย WARNย LAWMAKERS:ย TESLAโ€™Sย TAXย CREDITSย โ€˜OVERWHELMINGLYย BENEFITย THEย RICHโ€™,โ€The Daily Caller, May 9, 2019. Archived May 9, 2019. Archive.foย URL:ย https://archive.fo/qzvF3

August 19,ย 2018

Moore wrote an op-ed that was published atย The Washington Times51Stephen Moore. โ€œ’Who’s the cleanest of them all’,โ€ย The Washington Times, August 19,ย 2018. andย RealClear Politicsย suggesting that recent data about GHG emissions in the United States was justification that โ€œPresident Trump was completely right to pull the United States out of the flawed Paris accord.โ€52Stephen Moore. โ€œWho’s the Cleanest of Them All,โ€ย RealClear Politics, August 21, 2018.ย Archived September 5, 2018. Archiveย URL:ย https://archive.fo/7yaLM

โ€œThose who think they are helping save the planet by purchasing an electric car, or putting a solar panel on their roof, or trying to shut down coal production in the United States are barking up the wrong tree. If we want to stop greenhouse gases, there is no way to make progress without China and India on board โ€” which they clearly are not,โ€ Moore wrote.53Stephen Moore. โ€œ’Who’s the cleanest of them all’,โ€ย The Washington Times, August 19,ย 2018.

Earlier in the summer,ย InsideClimateย News reported on the same issue as Moore. However, ICNย notedย that in 2017 โ€œ[w]hile most countries’ emissions increased, some, including the United States, saw declines driven largely by renewable energy deployments.โ€54Phil McKenna. โ€œGlobal Emissions Rose in 2017, Butย U.S.ย and China Both Made Progress,โ€ย InsideClimate News, March 22, 2018.ย Archived September 5, 2018. Archiveย URL:ย https://archive.fo/nkzJO

Rather than reaching Moore’s conclusion, that โ€œ[t]hose who think they are helping save the planet by purchasing an electric car, or putting a solar panel on their roof, or trying to shut down coal production in the United States are barking up the wrong tree,โ€ ICN highlighted how market forces have been partially responsible for the increase in renewable energy as well.55Stephen Moore. โ€œ’Who’s the cleanest of them all’,โ€ย The Washington Times, August 19,ย 2018.

โ€œRenewable energy provided a record 17 percent of U.S. electricity generation in 2017. That’s a percentage that will likely continue to grow, said Glen Peters, researcher director at the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo,โ€ the ICN article noted.56Phil McKenna. โ€œGlobal Emissions Rose in 2017, Butย U.S.ย and China Both Made Progress,โ€ย InsideClimate News, March 22, 2018.ย Archived September 5, 2018. Archiveย URL:ย https://archive.fo/nkzJO

January 29,ย 2018

The Washington Timesย announced that Moore would become its new associate opinion editor.ย โ€œThere is no greater voice preaching prosperity and free markets in Washington today than Stephen Moore,โ€ Times Opinion Editor Charlesย Hurt said. โ€œHe doesnโ€™t just talk and write about these things. He has a track record of proving their success. We are delighted to have him join the Opinion pages.โ€57โ€œMoore named new associate opinion editor,โ€ย The Washington Times, January 29, 2018. Archived February 19, 2018. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/DRILW

โ€œItโ€™s exciting to add to my role at The Washington Times. The paper has long served as a premier news outlet in the nationโ€™s capital,โ€ Mr. Moore said. โ€œThe commentary section has been a must-read for conservatives every morning for as long as I have lived in Washington.โ€58โ€œMoore named new associate opinion editor,โ€ย The Washington Times, January 29, 2018. Archived February 19, 2018. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/DRILW

December 8,ย 2016

Stephen Moore was a speaker at the โ€œAt the Crossroads III Energy and Climate Summit,โ€ an event co-hosted by the Heritage Foundation and the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). The event was billed as โ€œthe premier energy-and-climate policy event in America,โ€ and attracted a range of prominent climate change deniers as well as a range of names connected toย Donald Trump and his transition team.59โ€œAt the Crossroadsย III: Energy and Climate Policy Summit,โ€ Heritage Foundation, December 8, 2016. Archived December 22, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/AKaKq

Doug Domenech, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s โ€œFueling Freedomโ€ project,ย wrote about the proceedings atย The Hill.ย Domenech outlined the common climate change denial message shared among the speakers: โ€œIs climate change real? Yes, it has happened in the past and will happen in the future. Is man making an impact on the climate? Perhaps but in very small ways. But the overarching consensus remains the climate change we are experiencing is by no means catastrophic.โ€60Doug Domenech. โ€œClimate change: Speaking truth to power,โ€ย The Hill, December 13, 2016. Archived December 21, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/zAEH5

Speakersย included:

November 15,ย 2016

Stephen Moore went on Fox Business’ย Varney & Coย where he discussed โ€œStalinist global warming rules.โ€ According to Moore, โ€œwe have the cleanest coal in the world. Video below.61โ€œTrump Adviser Stephen Moore: ‘We Have The Cleanest Coal In The World’,โ€ย Media Matters for Americas, November 15, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/fouHO

STUART VARNEY (Host): This is a quote from you. Defy Stalinist global warming rules and burn coal. Are we gonna do that, andย when?ย 

STEPHEN MOORE (Trump Adviser): Yeah. I mean look, Donald Trump made a very specific promise to the coal miners of America: We’re going to try to put as many of them back in their jobs. These Stalinistic rules that deal with climate change have put so many tens of thousands of our coal miners out of work. By the way, Stuart, do you know how much coal โ€“ guess how many years of coal we have in this country. Just take a wildย guess.

VARNEY: Couple of hundred yearsย worth?ย 

MOORE: You’re wrong. 500 years. We have more coal than any other country in the world. We’re the Saudi Arabia of coal. Hell yes, we should use our coal resources. And by the way, for the environmentalists, we have the cleanest coal in the world. Great story in The Wall Street Journal people didn’t pay too much attention to on Wednesday because of the election: China is building like 100 new coal plants. How does it help the environment when we shut down our coal and China builds ten plants for every one we shut down? How does that reduce globalย warming?ย 

August 1,ย 2016

During an episode of C-SPAN2‘sย Book TV, while discussing his new bookย Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy,ย Stephen Moore stated that opposing fracking โ€œis like being against a cure for cancerโ€ because it is โ€œone of the great seismic technological breakthroughsโ€ that is โ€œgiving us huge amounts of energy at very low prices.โ€ Moore went on to criticize Florida high school students opposing fracking, saying they wereย โ€œindoctrinated in their high school classesโ€ to think that โ€œsomehow fracking is a bad thing.โ€ Video below.62โ€œTrump Adviser Stephen Moore Compares Fracking To ‘The Cure For Cancer’,โ€ Media Matters, August 2, 2016. Archived.mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/XUrEb

November 2,ย 2015

Stephen Moore appeared on theย November 2 edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Co. The host, Stuart Varney, claimed a NASA study isย โ€œputting some doubt that some global warming theories are going the right way. That’s NASA saying that.โ€63Denise Robbins. โ€œNASAย Scientist Warned Deniers Would Distort His Antarctic Ice Study โ€“ That’s Exactly What They Did,โ€ย Media Matters, November 4, 2015. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/O9olI

Varney later brought on Stephen Moore, who complained that the media touts every โ€œstory that seems to validate global warming,โ€ while supposedly ignoring studies like the NASA study, which are an โ€œindication that it’s actually not happening.โ€ At the end of the segment, Moore joked that โ€œthis might be the start of another Ice Age.โ€ Media Transparency notedย that Moore was distorting the original NASA study.64Denise Robbins. โ€œNASAย Scientist Warned Deniers Would Distort His Antarctic Ice Study โ€“ That’s Exactly What They Did,โ€ย Media Matters, November 4, 2015. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/O9olI

Julyย 2015

Moore founded a group called the Committee to Unleash Prosperity with fellow economists Steve Forbes, Larry Kudlow, and Arthur B. Laffer. The group reportedly โ€œaims to end America’s growth slump and restore faith in the American Dream.โ€65โ€œEconomists Steve Forbes, Larry Kudlow, Dr. Arthur B. Laffer, Steve Moore Launch the Committee to Unleash Prosperity,โ€ย PRย Newsire, July 25,ย 2015.ย 

May 10,ย 2015

Stephen Moore declared in aย Washington Timesย column thatย โ€[t]he green energy movement in America is dead.โ€66Stephen Moore. โ€œPromoters of renewable energy failed to account for the return of cheap oil,โ€ย The Washington Times, May 10, 2015. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/m5aZ8ย Media Mattersย notes that a video, airing directly above Moore’s column, ย โ€œmakes clear that his characterization of the U.S. clean energy industry is blatantly false.โ€67Andrew Seifter. โ€œFox’s Stephen Moore Preemptively Debunked On Clean Energy By Video Affixed To His Column,โ€ย Media Matters, May 12, 2015.ย Archived November 15, 2016. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/mMrVM

According toย Media Matters, โ€œMoore egregiously distorted quotes from the IEA to falsely claim it ‘concedes that green energy is in fast retreat’ย and that the clean energy industry ‘is getting crushed’ by low fossil fuelย prices.โ€ย 

April 5,ย 2013

Stephen Moore was confronted by science education activist Zack Kopplin about myths about climate science funding on an episode ofย Real Time with Bill Maher. Kopplin points out thatย Moore, who questioned the need for funding research on โ€œsnail mating habits,โ€ is โ€œnot a scientistโ€:68โ€œStephen Moore, Rush Limbaugh, And The Right-Wing War On Science,โ€ Media Matters, April 8, 2013.ย Archived November 15, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.isย URL:ย https://archive.is/oz7gc

Januaryย 2005

Moore was โ€œprivately oustedโ€ as president of Club for Growth following a leadership dispute,ย the New York Timesย reported in July of 2005.ย  In late May, Moore sent out a letter to many of the club’s members viaย a fund-raising letter for his new group:69David D. Kirkpatrick.ย โ€œLeadership Dispute Causes a Split in a Powerhouse of Fund-Raising for Conservative Causes,โ€ย The New York Times, July 8, 2005.ย Archived July 4, 2019. Archive.foย URL:ย https://archive.fo/Ym0XP

โ€œAs you may have heard, I left the Club for Growth after I lost control of a board fight and was forced to resign as president and C.E.O. โ€“ despite our fabulous electoral successes in 2004.โ€ย  He continued, โ€œTo see the club splintered this way was a heart-breaking tragedy, but the good news is most of the original founding committee members of the old Club for Growth that we built into such a political juggernaut helped me launch the Free Enterprise Fund.โ€70David D. Kirkpatrick.ย โ€œLeadership Dispute Causes a Split in a Powerhouse of Fund-Raising for Conservative Causes,โ€ย The New York Times, July 8, 2005.ย Archived July 4, 2019. Archive.foย URL:ย https://archive.fo/Ym0XP

Affiliations

Socialย Media

Publications

Moore has been contributing editor to both the National Review,ย was on the Editorial Board of theย Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and on the Economic Board of Advisors for Time. His television appearances have includedย CNNโ€™s Inside Politics, Crossfire and Moneyline, NBCโ€™s Nightly News, Fox Morning News, and The McLaughlin Group.94Stephen Moore. โ€œPutting Taxpayers First: A Federal Budget Plan to Benefit the Next Generation of American Taxpayersโ€ (PDF), Institute for Policy Innovation, February, 2004. Archived .pdf on file atย DeSmog.

Moore is the co-author of Itโ€™s Getting Better All the Time: 100 Greatest Trends of the Past 100 Years and author of Government: Americaโ€™s #1 Growth Industry and the editor of Restoring the Dream: What House Republicans Plan to Do Now to Strengthen the Family, Balance the Budget, and Replace Welfare (Times Mirror, 1995).95Stephen Moore. โ€œPutting Taxpayers First: A Federal Budget Plan to Benefit the Next Generation of American Taxpayersโ€ (PDF), Institute for Policy Innovation, February, 2004. Archived .pdf on file atย DeSmog.

Stephen Moore has been a prolific contributor to a range of publicationsย including:

Image of Stephen Moore at topย by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of Americaย [CC BYSA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Otherย Resources

Resources

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