Scott Bessent, the hedge fund manager from South Carolina, now serving as Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary, has fired back at Wall Street’s constant complaining.
Speaking from his office overlooking the White House, Scott said the administration’s goal is that:- “We want the most America-first policies that are possible, without incurring market wrath. The financial elite are exaggerating risks and ignoring results.”
Over the past nine months, Scott has championed tariffs, backed Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, and unleashed tons of deregulation and tax cuts.
Scott’s policies have also loosened crypto rules and encouraged the use of stablecoins, while vowing to use the Internal Revenue Service to investigate left-leaning organizations accused of fueling political unrest, including groups tied to George Soros, the billionaire Scott once worked for.
Scott pushes Trump’s playbook from Treasury to Argentina
Abroad, Scott is leading a multibillion-dollar U.S. bailout for Argentina, aimed at supporting President Javier Milei, Trump’s libertarian ally in Latin America.
The deal effectively places Scott on the U.S. government’s side of a massive currency trade, something he and Soros famously thrived on as investors when they broke the British pound.
It’s a little poetic, isn’t it? Scott’s is playing the same game, just with America’s balance sheet now.
Meanwhile, Scott said his philosophy differs from predecessors like Steven Mnuchin. “Unlike most of my predecessors, I have a very healthy scepticism of elite institutions and elite opinion, whereas I think they didn’t. But I have a healthy regard for the market,” he said. He added that populist governments fail when they “don’t respect the market… you’ve got to respect the market.”
Within the administration, Scott’s style has made him one of Trump’s closest allies. Republican Senator David McCormick said, “I was just with Trump and he was talking about Bessent, and I think he’s got a huge amount of faith in him. He’s viewed as a voice of reason… someone who gets it done.”
Markets steady as Scott defends trade war and fights critics
Critics inside Washington see things differently. As Cryptopolitan previously reported, some former Treasury officials warn that Scott has made the department too political, saying its credibility with investors could “lose value that’s worth its weight in gold.” They accuse him of frittering away the Treasury’s market trust “at a rapid clip.” Still, despite trade wars and tariff fights, Scott has managed to steady markets that many expected to crumble.
Since he took office on January 28, the S&P 500 has gained roughly 12%, while the 10-year Treasury yield dropped by more than half a percentage point, sitting near 4%. That’s not what critics predicted when Trump reignited global tariff battles in April.
“He is straddling this line between appeasing Trump and appeasing the markets. And so far, he’s made it work,” said Ian Katz, an analyst at Capital Alpha. Scott, always blunt, responded: “Where the hell is the market risk? They’ve just been wrong.”
When Trump’s so-called “liberation day tariffs” triggered panic in April, Scott spent days calling top fund managers, calming nerves while Trump paused some of the highest duties. He later explained that the president had always intended to use tariffs as leverage: “He has a higher risk tolerance than I do.”
On Wall Street, Scott is seen as a rare buffer against Trump’s impulsive moves — like convincing the president not to fire Fed Chair Jay Powell before his term ends. Still, his tenure hasn’t been short of drama.
One clash turned physical with Elon Musk, who bankrolled Trump’s campaign and was even called the country’s First Buddy by the president and his inner circle.
Another close call for Scott happened with Billy Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
“When it counts, he’s a fighter in our corner,” said one Wall Street lobbyist. “It’s almost like this ‘Bessent put.’ He knows not to go too far where markets would be disrupted… CEOs are fearful of the administration, but Bessent is our id.”
Dollar drops as Scott shrugs off Wall Street’s panic
Not everyone shares that confidence. Stephen Myrow, managing partner at Beacon Policy Advisors and a former Treasury official, said, “Mnuchin was still trying to be a guardrail, but if markets are looking for Bessent to be a guardrail, they’re asking too much. Bessent has no problem being political, which eventually could run a risk with the market.”
That risk might already be showing. The U.S. dollar has fallen 8% since Scott took over the Treasury. He insists it will rebound as trade deficits shrink. Democrats, meanwhile, say the decline shows the market’s growing doubts about the U.S. economy.
“I was in New York two weeks ago meeting with a bunch of bankers, and one of them said to me that for the first time in his career, he’s hearing people talking about hedging the dollar,” said Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. “This is insane.”
Through it all, Scott has dismissed Wall Street’s panic as nothing but “continuous whining.” He believes investors are underestimating how calculated Trump’s approach is. “Where’s the crisis?” Scott asked, mockingly looking around. “I don’t see it.”
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Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/scott-bessent-slams-wall-street-for-whining/
