In 2014, Mr. Moore wrote a column for National Review, in which he said women earning more than men “could be disruptive to family stability.” Asked about that column on Sunday, Mr. Moore did not apologize, but said that strong economic growth under Mr. Trump was helping women and was the best way to reduce the gender pay gap.
Mr. Moore has expressed strong reservations about women working in the past. In December 2000, he fielded questions from C-SPAN viewers for an hour. A caller asked Mr. Moore about statistics that showed black women earning more than black men in America.
“It’s not a good thing that black women are making more than black men today,” Mr. Moore replied. “In fact, you know, the male needs to be the breadwinner of the family. One of the reasons you’ve seen the decline of the family, not just in the black community, but also it’s happening now in the white community as well, is because women are more economically self-sufficient.”
He has also made jokes with racial overtones. Shortly after Mr. Trump was elected president, Mr. Moore broke from a talk about health care to tell his audience a joke about the departing first family. “By the way, did you see, there’s that great cartoon going along?” he said. “A New York Times headline: ‘First Thing Donald Trump Does as President is Kick a Black Family Out of Public Housing’, and it has Obama leaving the White House. I mean, I just love that one. Just a great one.”
In many cases, Mr. Moore’s provocative statements have mirrored Mr. Trump’s. He accused the Obama administration of “lying” about official unemployment statistics, claiming the actual rate was double the 5 percent rate reported by the Labor Department, accusations Mr. Trump also made. In August 2017, appearing on CNN, Mr. Moore argued with host John Berman about whether slavery caused the Civil War and defended Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general whom Mr. Trump praised last week.
“Robert E. Lee hated slavery,” Mr. Moore said. “He abhorred slavery, but he fought for his section of the country. That’s a totally different subject.”
“I can’t let it slide,” Mr. Berman said. “Robert E. Lee held slaves. He ordered the beating of slaves. He ordered the return of fugitive slaves and he fought for the dissolution of the union to maintain slavery. So, his person attitude towards slavery —”