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| Fraser Seitel |
The O’Dwyer’s publishing colossus knows no geographical bounds. Loyal readers regularly criticize us from every corner of the globe.
Most recently, faithful O’Dwyer’s reader Richard Evans, writing from New Zealand, took a certain columnist to task for an early April piece labeling Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as little more than cheerleaders for a run amok President, the “Dumb and Dumber of the Trump Administration.”
“Dear Mr. Seitel,” the viciously understated Mr. Evans began, “Oh my, this didn’t age well.” Mr. Evans’ email went on to point out in gruesome detail that, contrary to the column’s thesis, both Cabinet officials had proven themselves effective in advancing the Trump economic agenda in key areas from trade policy to foreign investment in the U.S. to broad corporate support for the President’s policies. Mr. Evans concluded his velvet vilification by asking simply, “Will you apologize to your readers for getting it so wrong?”
Yes, Mr. Evans. Damn your eyes! I apologize. You are right. I was waaaay off in both cases.
Billionaire Lutnick has toned down his initial brashness to become Trump’s prime mover in moving companies from Asia, Europe and the Middle East to agree to create multi-billion-dollar U.S. facilities. Meanwhile, billionaire Bessent has shed his initial timidity to become Trump’s go-to economic fixer and spokesman.
Bessent, in fact, has become the administration’s number one public relations weapon toward keeping the economic dialogue on a steady, credible and positive course; serving as a counterweight to the President’s propensity to pontificate and polarize.
Here’s how the Treasury Secretary does it.
Bessent leads with facts
Donald Trump is known for many things, but “facts” are not one of them. It is indisputable that the President is prone to, ahem, occasional overstatement, exaggeration or downright untruths in some of his public pronouncements. He’s a politician, after all.
But not Scott Bessent.
Bessent is a bona fide economic historian who taught economic history classes for five years at Yale. He speaks not as an economist—or yes, a cheerleader—but as a historian.
As discussion of a stock market “bubble,” caused by runaway AI spending, spread last week, Bessent cited history to shut it down. In the ’90s, he told CNBC, there were similar concerns about the Internet that ultimately led to substantial productivity increases and a reinvigorated economy.
“We’re starting to see that now from AI,” Bessent said, and he predicted that we would likely begin to see productivity gains from AI by the second quarter of next year.
The Treasury Secretary’s history lesson helped burst the discussion of an imminent bubble.
Bessent doesn’t sugarcoat
Early on in his tenure, Bessent was tentative, hesitant in answering straightforward questions and jarringly uncomfortable in interview situations.
What a difference six months makes.
Today, in his own reserved and proper way, he is brutally blunt. A week ago, when Trump roiled markets by threatening to “massively increase” tariffs on China, it was Bessent again who quickly cleaned up the mess.
He reassured interviewers that we were still engaged in trade talks with China, and that the two leaders liked each other and would soon meet. But he blamed the current contretemps on a “low-level, slightly unhinged China trade person,” who was trying to create a false narrative and disrupt relations. Bessent went so far as to name—by name—the troublesome Chinese trade official, an unprecedented diplomatic no-no.
The Treasury Secretary’s frankness helped lead to a market rebound, a good example that …
Bessent is a market whisperer
After nearly a year back in office, Donald Trump is no longer a mystery to corporate America, Wall Street or Silicon Valley. Investors have learned to expect the unexpected.
Trump is mercurial, unpredictable, capable of sending the markets skyrocketing with one Truth Social announcement and plunging with the next.
It is left to Treasury Secretary Bessent, who led George Soros’ dominant currency trading initiatives and then excelled as a hedge fund manager, to correct and clarify his boss’s comments to help keep the American economy on a steady course. From the impact of trade tariffs to the independence of the Federal Reserve to the possibility of increased job losses, it has become Bessent’s responsibility to reassure the markets and the nation that all is well.
Typically, last week, Bessent countered the growing concerns about AI replacing massive amounts of American workers by again citing history and logic.
“We’re probably in the third inning of AI development,” he told an interviewer. This, he said, would inevitably lead to a boom in corporate capital expenditures. “What always follows a capex boom is an employment boom. When you see this level of capex, there will be plenty of jobs.”
His words were positive and reassuring; quite a contrast to the novice government official who, a scant six months ago, was being taken to task for his timidity.
When you’re wrong, you’re wrong.
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Fraser P. Seitel has been a communications consultant, author and teacher for more than 40 years. He’s author of the Pearson text “The Practice of Public Relations,” now in its 15th edition, and co-author of “Rethinking Reputation” “Idea Wise.” He may be reached directly at [email protected].
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