Scott Bessent Makes Steven Mnuchin Seem Charming

We watch the Sunday shows so you never have to!

There are many ways you could describe the current Trump administration.

Cruel. Feckless. Lawless. Fascistic.

However, one thing they have in common, whether due to their power or wealth, is that they are detached. There is no better example of this than Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

It’s hard to describe how little expectation we had for this cabinet position after it was occupied by lipless charisma void and an ‘80s kids’ movie tycoon villain Steve Mnuchin in the previous Trump administration. But, in one Sunday show appearance, Bessent has somehow made Mnuchin seem like a “man of the people” by comparison.

Host Kristen Welker asked about how the stock market has reacted to the Trump administration’s actions. Bessent showed how out of touch he truly is.

WELKER: Worst week for the market in two years. Does that worry you, Mr. Secretary?

BESSENT: Not at all. I've been in the investment business for 35 years. And I can tell you that corrections are healthy. They're normal. […]

WELKER: I hear you say you're not worried about the markets. But nearly 60 percent of Americans are invested in the markets. That's their retirement savings. What do you say to Americans who have real concerns that their retirement savings may be in jeopardy?

BESSENT: I say that one week does not the market make.

Again, this is people’s retirement funds. In an administration that is doing everything possible to gut Social Security, simultaneously destroying people’s 401ks and investments can be disastrous. It’s also rich to be lectured about how little effect the stock market dip should have on average Americans after Trump practically did a Tesla infomercial on the White House lawn because Elon allegedly was crying about his own stock market losses.

Later, Welker asked Bessent about the Trump administration’s mixed answers about a possible recession. Bessent’s answer was not very reassuring.

WELKER: Mr. Secretary, can you guarantee the American people here and now that there will be no recession on President Trump's watch?

BESSENT: Well, Kristen, you know that there are no guarantees.

That’s not the answer you give if you truly think this is just a healthy stock market correction, or that your policies are gonna help the economy.

But Bessent’s worst statement came when Welker played a clip of him lecturing Americans about “cheap goods,” to justify consumers paying more arbitrarily for goods they need because Trump doesn’t get how tariffs work.

BESSENT: What I'm saying is the American dream is not, "Let them eat flat screens." […] The American dream is not contingent on cheap baubles they get from China. That it is more than that. And we are focused on affordability. But it's mortgages, it's cars, it's real wage gains.

Few things:

• How are Americans supposed to afford homes when the price of them rises due to tariffs on lumber from Canada or building materials from Mexico and China?

• How does the price of vehicles magically get lower when so many auto-making materials come from Canada, Mexico, and China and that tariffed cost gets passed on to consumers?

• Considering how conservative assclowns in both parties have fought against a living wage, what “gains” is Bessent talking about?

I bet Scott Bessent thought he had a banger when he deployed that misattributed Marie Antoinette line he practiced all night in the mirror. However, Bessent unironically showed how his $521 million blinders have made him as aloof to the suffering of the people as the French monarchy was in 1789.

Most Americans realistically know they won’t become ultra-wealthy. They just want a life worth living and a way to afford that. They put up with crap bosses, politically caused turmoil, and ever-eroding infrastructure to once in a while treat themselves. Enjoying the Sunday games on your modestly priced TV or playing your gaming console or a small trip to make memories are the only pacifiers to make most of us ignore that we are constantly being screwed over.

Those flats screens and “baubles” are perhaps the only things keeping Americans from noticing they are being constantly fucked over by a capitalistic system rigged against them. Take those away and, like George Carlin once said, Americans might realize “they call it the ‘American Dream’ because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

Scott Bessent might not be a former Hollywood executive producer like Steve Mnuchin was, but he’s doing his part to contribute to an American remake of Les Misérables.

Have a week.

Follow Michael Mora on Bluesky and Threads. (If you are still on Twitter, I’m also HERE)