News just broke that Scott Bessent will be nominated by President Trump to serve as the next Secretary of the Department of the Treasury.
The possibility that Bessent might get the nod to head up the Treasury Department has been causing ripples for weeks.
He has been a key Trump fundraiser and has advocated for financial policies in line with President Trump’s economic plans and the core fiscal policies of the Republican Party.
Bessent has even weighed in on issues like President Trump’s mass deportation plan, pointing out that it would be economically better than the financial hit of increased crime and fentanyl deaths caused by the open border policies of the Biden-Harris administration.
🚨 BREAKING: Donald Trump has selected Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary. pic.twitter.com/muQCxdR2fC
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 22, 2024
Bessent has not been without his detractors, most notably of late Elon Musk.
While he didn’t really have anything truly negative to heap on the Billionaire hedge fund manager, Elon contrasted Bessent with his preferred choice — Howard Lutnick — in terms of enacting change.
Would be interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback.
My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change.
Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change… https://t.co/igGLZOJ8wz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2024
Elon requested feedback on his disagreement with Kyle Bass on the right choice for the Treasury Secretary, specifically considering Scott Bessent vs Howard Lutnick.
Roger Stone chimed in, emphasizing that he thought Elon had it completely backwards. Stone emphasized that in his mind (after interviewing him) Scott Bessent is the true revolutionary, and Howard Lutnick represented the conventional Wall Street thinking.
With all due, respect, Elon, you have it exactly backwards. Take a minute to listen to Scott Bessent on my 77 lWABC radio show and you will see that he is a revolutionary. The president trusts him
Howard is Wall Street personified and conventional thinker Steve is a gold devotee… https://t.co/iEAow3IZx6— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) November 16, 2024
Charlie Kirk is sold on President Trump’s choice of Bessent, sharing a clip of an interview with him from a week ago, and calling Bessent “a phenomenal pick”.
🚨BREAKING: President Trump has selected CEO and Founder of Key Square Capital Management, Scott Bessent, to lead the Treasury Department.
A phenomenal pick. Expect the markets to react favorably. pic.twitter.com/dHBv5vASZX
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 22, 2024
Charles Gasparino holds the same sentiments as Charlie Kirk, posting in favor of Scott Bessent as head of the Treasury Department a week ago.
I like that Gasparino brought up the giant purple elephant in the room — the fact that Bessent once worked for George Soros.
Keep this in mind when you throw shade at Scott Bessent as @USTreasury Secretary for his work with Soros: He was trained by one of greatest investors of all time in the name of Stan Druckenmiller, a true conservative who also worked w Soros back in the day. It would be a huge…
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) November 14, 2024
President Trump will nominate Scott Bessent for the top financial spot as soon as he is back in the White House, according to a story on Fox Business.
Bessent, the founder and CEO of global macro investment firm Key Square Group, was a key economic policy adviser and fundraiser for the Trump campaign.
He has been an advocate for economic policies like lower taxes, spending restraint and deregulation that have long made up the core of the Republican Party’s platform, and has also been supportive of Trump’s use of tariffs in trade negotiations.
At an event hosted by the Manhattan Institute earlier this year, Bessent suggested that Trump should pursue a three-point plan of targeting 3% economic growth, reducing the deficit to 3% of U.S. gross domestic product and to boost domestic energy production by 3 million barrels of oil a day.
Bessent previously taught at Yale University. He worked at Soros Fund Management (SFM) from 1991 to 2005, starting as a partner and eventually leading the firm’s London office. After starting his own venture and working at another firm, he returned to SFM from 2011 to 2015 as chief investment officer, before he left to found his investment firm, Key Square Group.
Key Square is focused on macro investing, which is a strategy that leverages geopolitical and macroeconomic information to guide its approach to investing in various markets.
Economically, I see plenty of good reasons that make Bessent the perfect fit for President Trump’s Treasury Secretary.
Check out this in-depth conversation Bessent had with Fox Business Host Maria Bartiromo back in October.
There is no doubt that Bessent is on the same page and chapter as President Trump with the economic changes that need to happen as soon as possible.
Scott Bessent Former Soros Fund Management CO:
“Donald Trump is really on day one, when he wins January 20th he’s going to hit the ground running…” pic.twitter.com/DcLGRavw45— Gary D (@KMGGaryde) October 16, 2024
But Bessent isn’t without his detractors, and issues — even if you can get past the Soros employment history. (Which, surprisingly, I think I can.)
Bessent is gay. He and his husband have adopted two children. I don’t have to know more than that to know that I’m going to disagree with Bessent’s worldview on many points — as will the vast majority of conservatives.
Congratulations to Scott Bessent for becoming the first member of #GaysForTrump to be nominated for Treasury secretary! pic.twitter.com/qApQ79N4w4
— Gays For Trump (@GaysForTrump24) November 22, 2024
But this is a perfect place to remember back to a time when people of different worldviews could agree on a certain aspect of shared priorities… and work together.
I certainly wouldn’t call on Scott Bessent to teach a Sunday School class for my kids, nor would I have high hopes that he would agree with me on the inerrancy of Scripture — particularly those passages that call homosexuality both a personal sin and a national judgment against nations that have pushed God aside.
But… is he a good pick for the Department of the Treasury?
According to President Trump, he’s the perfect choice. And according to the New York Post, Bessent got the nod from President Trump late last night, at Mar-a-Lago.
Bessent “got the thumbs up” late Thursday during a meeting with Trump, 78, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., one source close to the situation told The Post.
Bessent, the 62-year-old founder of Key Square Group, has repeatedly backed the president-elect’s pro-tariff stance in a series of op-eds and media appearances over the past year.
“If you want to bring a genius into that job who is loyal to the president, Scott is the right guy,” one source close to the situation said.
ADVERTISEMENTOne faction of Trump World had been pushing for Bessent for weeks, trying to outmaneuver Howard Lutnick — the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of Trump’s transition team — in what had reportedly escalated into a bitter “knife fight” for the coveted role.
One insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lutnick, a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, was eventually handed the post of Commerce Secretary “to calm things down.”
Another staunch Trump loyalist and major donor, billionaire hedge fund boss John Paulson, ruled himself out of an administration post just one week after the Nov. 5 election.
A native of South Carolina, Bessent previously served as chief investment officer for George Soros and was instrumental in the Hungarian-born money man’s “Black Wednesday” trade in 1992.
The bet against the British pound “broke the Bank of England”, raking in an eye-watering $1 billion payday for Soros that cemented his reputation as a titan of global finance.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Bessent said Trump’s second presidential term would usher in “a revitalized economy for all Americans.”
“The Biden administration’s mismanagement has created serious challenges that Mr. Trump will need to overcome,” Bessent stated in the Nov. 10 op-ed, adding that Trump “has a mandate to re-privatize the US economy through deregulation and tax reform to spur the supply-side growth that he delivered in his first term.”
If you’ve listened to Bessent’s interviews, you know that he is forthright and well-spoken. He doesn’t mince words, and he is clear on his foundational economic principles.
President Trump won reelection partly on the strength of the financial solutions he put forward to fix the inflationary quagmire that has been created by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
I would not be surprised if in four years, we are singing the praises of not only President Trump, but his choice of Scott Bessent, as we enjoy those “Trump-era” grocery bills again, rather than the devalued dollar and bloated costs of the Biden-Harris era.
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