Federal Reserve pick Stephen Moore thinks women should be nowhere near basketball

"Is there no area in life where men can take vacation from women?" he wrote.

Whether you like them or not, hot takes are kind of the engine of the internet. Frankly, people love reading other people’s dumb, crazy opinions. The wilder they are, the better! But, for a hot take to actually work, for it to not be dismissed as some epic-level trolling or just plain ignorant writing, hot takes have to be, you know, somewhat good. They have to be based in some kind of fact, have at least a degree of rational thought applied to them. Otherwise, they’re just outlandishly offensive.

The “outlandishly offensive” part is where these bonkers sports columns, from one of President Trump’s top picks for the Federal Reserve Board, Stephen Moore, rank.

In the early 2000s, Moore wrote some dingers for the NRO that, if they were done well, could come off as satire or even a weak attempt at “humor.” Instead, they are a mess of galling, sexist rambling.

The most offensive bits are from one column in 2002, where he offered several ways to fix the “feminization” of March Madness.

1. No Women. 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. 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 he women’s games and men the men’s games.

These statements are so absurd, even for 2002, that it feels like they should be satire, but they don’t appear to be satire. They’re not even at a “old man yells at cloud” level of absurdity, because it’s hard to brush aside this level of misogyny.

Moore also railed against ESPN and USA TODAY for the crime of….covering women’s sports?

This speaks to a bigger and more serious social problem in America: the feminization of basketball generally. Turn on ESPN or even the networks these days and you’re as likely to see women playing as men. USA Today devotes nearly half its basketball coverage to the gals.

He also goes on to say, “I have never in my life met anyone who actually liked watching women’s basketball. I don’t even know any women who like women’s basketball.”

It’s worth noting that in 2002, the Women’s National Championship game that aired on ESPN pulled in over 5 million viewers, one of it’s highest ratings ever.

Moore also used a large portion of his column to demean former ESPN analyst Bonnie Bernstein, suggesting she broadcast wearing a halter top. Bernstein wasn’t having it.

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In a statement to CNN, which first broke the story, Moore said the columns were a “spoof” and proof that he has “sense of humor.”

Unfortunately, nothing about this take is funny. It’s the same reductive garbage used to brush aside women and women’s sports as inherently inferior, because what? men were here first? they don’t like women showing them up on the court? or that women shouldn’t be allowed to exist in the same spaces as men?

Whatever Moore’s reasoning, the core of his argument is a nasty, stomach-churning misogyny that shouldn’t be tolerated, even in “takes” that are almost two decades old.

Moore hasn’t just limited his takes to March Madness and women playing sports in general though. He is also a dude who recently said, “Capitalism is a lot more important than democracy. I’m not even a big believer in democracy.”