Alex Brandon/AP Photo
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listen as President Donald Trump speaks before a luncheon with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House on April 17, 2025.
Last Thursday, Trump explicitly threatened to have the IRS take away the nonprofit status of Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, as well as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). This came two days after Trump abruptly removed an acting IRS commissioner, and installed in his place Gary Shapley, an ally of Elon Musk.
That move came as a surprise to Scott Bessent, especially since the IRS is part of the Treasury. Bessent quickly persuaded Trump to replace Shapley with Bessent’s own deputy secretary, Michael Faulkender, a relatively mainstream former professor of finance who served at the Treasury in Trump’s first term. And for the moment anyway, there has been no more talk of abrupt revocations of the tax status of major nonprofits, which also happens to be illegal.
Bessent explicitly complained to Trump that Musk had done an end run around him to get Shapley appointed. Thursday night Musk retaliated by reposting a social media charge from conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer accusing Bessent of colluding with a “Trump hater.” That turned out to be John Hope Bryant, the Black CEO of Operation HOPE, who has worked with three presidents on financial literacy programs, including one sponsored with Treasury.
This was the second time in less than two weeks that Bessent acted to save Trump from himself, deftly isolating more extremist advisers. On April 9, financial markets were crashing, and worse was expected. Peter Navarro, the main architect of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, was at the White House staying close to the Oval Office.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Bessent, joined by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, waited until Navarro was tied up in another meeting. They quickly arranged an emergency conversation with Trump, explained the risks of financial collapse, and stayed until Trump composed a Truth Social post suspending the tariffs.
Thus did Bessent out-play both Musk and Navarro, in service of more prudent policies. I have no inside information, but it’s likely that Bessent is also one of those dissuading Trump from trying to fire Fed Chair Jay Powell. On Bloomberg TV last week, Bessent described monetary policy as “a jewel box that has to be preserved,” adding that he had “no concern” that Trump was trying to oust Powell.
But Bessent is all alone here. On Monday, Trump redoubled his attack on Powell, and markets predictably cratered again. White House chief economist Kevin Hassett has pointedly declined to defend Powell.
It’s far from clear whether Trump feels grateful for Bessent’s role as guardrail, or whether he is chafing at the restraint. What is clear is that Bessent is an exception. In his second term, Trump has made sure to get rid of minders.
Bessent is the least MAGA-afflicted of all of Trump’s top officials. He used to be a Democrat. He’s polished and polite. He’s gay.
For nearly two decades Bessent worked for George Soros. He masterminded the successful 1992 speculative play to crash the British pound, which made the Soros firm over a billion dollars. With backing from Soros, Bessent then created his own hedge fund in 2015. In 2012 he donated to Barack Obama and gave money to both Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
With this background, how does Bessent feel able to restrain Trump from dangerous decisions promoted by closer-in ideological allies such as Navarro and Musk? One main reason: Bessent’s presence reassures Wall Street, and Trump knows it. That’s Bessent’s trump card, so to speak. But as the Powell conflict shows, even Bessent’s influence goes only so far, and Trump is sometimes willing to suffer massive hits to money markets.
Trump-world is a cauldron of intrigue. Trump himself is mad as a hatter, paranoid about disloyalty, with the attention span of a gnat. We’ll see how long Scott Bessent lasts.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect breaking news.
