FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 5, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent became the butt of the joke when speaking to Republican luminaries during a 50th anniversary celebration of the "Laffer curve."
Semafor's Ben Smith reported Monday that Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, quipped that he overheard Bessent threatening to punch members of Congress in the face if they didn't vote for Trump's tax cut package.
"Some members of the audience laughed so hard they spilled their drinks," Semafor reported, citing an audience member.
The report explores how a hedge funder like Bessent was able to outmaneuver figures like Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick for the top economic post.
"He is the only one of the ambitious men in Trump’s inner circle who is neither running for president himself nor seeing eye-popping returns for a family business," the report said.
Semafor cited Bessent's sudden move in the summer of 2021 to spread his money around conservative politics.
"He financed a conservative publishing outfit, All Seasons Press, which bought a book from the anti-trade Trump adviser Peter Navarro and a sympathetic biography of Tucker Carlson, among others," the report said. "Details of the business emerged in a messy lawsuit triggered by the ultimate rookie publishing mistake in publishing: trying to reclaim an advance from a writer."
By 2024, he became a regular on Steve Bannon’s show. In one appearance, he claimed that the improvements in the economy under President Joe Biden were really thanks to Trump, because markets were anticipating a Trump victory.
"The financial crises of Trump’s second term have so far been self-inflicted. But investors are increasingly wary of a crash — whether from a dark corner of private credit, the overheated AI bubble or some other unanticipated source," wrote Smith in his analysis.
Smith pointed to economist Paul Krugman, who takes exception to those who tout Bessent's control of the economy under Trump.
“Unlike virtually all other Trump Cabinet members, Bessent isn’t a fool. He’s highly intelligent and well-versed in his area of operation. He understands financial markets. Hence the fact that he willingly smears the Fed by invoking conspiracy-laden tropes and re-writing facts is a window into his character, showing that he isn’t, and never was, worthy of Americans’ trust," wrote Krugman.