Once viewed as "the sole grown-up in [Donald] Trump’s Cabinet," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's behavior has become increasingly "thuggish" in recent weeks, raising concerns that his rhetoric will cause the "economy to tank," according to an analysis from The New Republic.
Despite his reputation as a steady hand guiding Trump on financial matters, The New Republic's Timothy Noah on Tuesday argued that Bessent has, since the president's Greenland crusade and his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, been more prone to "hurtling insults in every direction and giving every impression that he’s about to have a nervous breakdown." This, Noah noted, has been coupled with key indicators suggesting that the U.S. economy is headed in a bad direction.
After Trump threatened tariffs against European countries that pushed back against his desire to annex Greenland, Bessent urged those countries, during an address in Davos, to "sit back, take a deep breath, and let things play out" and not retaliate against the U.S. As Noah pointed out, however, European leaders did back with threats of "$93 billion in retaliatory measures" that caused enough concern on Wall Street to get Trump's attention.
During the same visit, Bessent also hit out against Danish funds and investors potentially pulling out of U.S. treasuries in response to Trump's Greenland threats, with an insult.
“Denmark’s investment in the U.S. Treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant," Bessent said.
As Bessent took this new, harsher approach, Noah noted that the price of gold had been steadily rising, an indication that investors suspect things are not well with the U.S. Despite the value of the S&P 500 having increased recently, experts fear that "some sort of correction is coming."
It doesn’t reflect well on a Treasury secretary when the price of gold goes through the roof," Noah wrote. "It means people expect higher inflation and are losing faith in the stock market along with the overall health of the economy."
As of Monday, the price of an ounce of gold was up to $5,100, compared to $4,000 a month prior. Over the past year, the value of the U.S. dollar has also declined by 10 percent, and investors are increasingly wary of buying Treasury bonds.
"The more Bessent shoots his trash-talking mouth off, the more the dollar’s value falls and the higher the price of gold rises," Noah wrote. "Probably the best thing Bessent could do right now — for himself, for the dollar, and for your 401(k)—is to shut the f—k up."