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SPEAKER 3
Hey, everybody, it's Tim Miller from The Bulwark. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent humiliated himself again on the Sunday shows, this time on This Week on ABC with Martha Raddatz. She was asking him about the status of these deals, these trade negotiations, where people are banging down our door, apparently,
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and the phone's ringing off the hook on all these trade negotiations while our economy suffers. And his answers were... Ranged from unsatisfactory to lying to just utterly, utterly mortifying and disgraceful. I mean, how could you just wake up in the morning, you know, in your Barbie house in Charleston and decide you want to go on to TV?
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and try to spin this nonsense for Donald Trump. Anyway, I wanna watch the first clip about the most important thing, the China negotiation. And I'll explain to you what the many, many problems are with it on the other side.

Scott Bessent embarrassed himself on national TV, clueless about China negotiations and fumbling through obvious lies. Total disaster.

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Discussion about this video

User's avatar
Robin’s Nest's avatar

Trump was saying 200 deals are in his head, playing with tariffs like a supermarket adjusts prices, to see if he can get the right prices that will bring in the most income. But he is also doing deals with US companies like Apple and the auto companies. He is using the tariffs to shakedown US companies. Those are the real deals. There might be a few other leverage on countries for issues unrelated to trade, like Mexicans and immigration or Ukraine and its minerals. But basically it is grift.

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Izzy Stanaway's avatar

I just checked out Bessen’s house. It is pink and white and…and very Barbie-like. My goodness.

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devilinhell's avatar

I had no idea who Scott Bessent was, I haven't liked what I've seen so far, but I looked up some information and learned he's a gay man with a husband and adopted children. What kinda surprises me is with Trump being ok with his openly gay background, when Trump usually seems to only want manly-looking ladies men from casting call like Hegseth. Too bad these things won't help with actually making anything better. Well, at least I voted Liberal in Canada and we just won.

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MrSaw's avatar

We have a concept of a framework of a deal.

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Karen Barrows's avatar

I think Bessent is being groomed as the fall guy. Once empty Christmas shelves loom, say, by Halloween, Trump will find an off ramp. Bessent being uninformed and looking ridiculous will make him a perfect scapegoat.

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Maria's avatar

No, those are the qualities required to work for Trump and getting the acceptance of MAGA people.

He'll be perfect scapegoat because he's gay and worked for Soros. The Deep State sleeper agent wanting to sabotage the Orange God King.

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Mary Lou Kurtz's avatar

It’s terrifying that this guy is presumed to be the conduit between Wall Street and the White House.

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Michael A Higgins's avatar

If Trump is making Bessent lie, then it's probably time to put Melissa McCarthy back on SNL to tell people to settle down.

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Carol E Smith's avatar

This is mind-numbing. I find Bessent so difficult to watch/listen to--much like RFK, Jr., he has such distracting facial and voice issues. I end up wishing he would just go away quickly even though I am dying to hear his latest spins and lies. What an awful person he is.

So... Bessent says there are 18 "important" trading partners, but put China aside, so it's 17 "important" trading partners that "they" are making "subdeals" with, "especially with Asian countries." Um, what?

But Trump said he has already made 200 deals.... 200. Again, who is doing what, really? Who is "they"? Or is Trump speaking "figuratively" here, which he now claims he was being when he said he'd end the war in Ukraine in one day? (We should have just known he was speaking "figuratively.")

We will never get real answers to anything. I am sick to death of all of these people. Truly.

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Kiera Stroup's avatar

Scott Bessent is an insufferable asshole. He is a smug, pompous, arrogant, out-of-touch, tone deaf dandy who spouts “let them eat cake” bullshit. Useless motherfucker.

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Shelly P's avatar

I think you covered it!

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Nina Blaylock's avatar

He has concepts of a plan (deal)

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Patricia McKeown's avatar

He could not even get her name right.

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ABT's avatar

Pundits were positive on Bessent and Rubio during confirmation. The tone was at least the two of them would be decent. Bessent hasn’t had a single positive appearance or accomplishment. What made him previously seem like he’d be good?

I think we are seeing how much people have been puffed up in this country and then shown to be, at best, hollow shells.

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Greg D's avatar

Do your Christmas shopping now!

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ABT's avatar

Concepts of a deal.

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Robert J Danolfo's avatar

News flash! Trump was close to his first official deal. The penguins said they would go to zero tariffs. Trump countered with 2% for the penguins saying he can't look weak on penguins. The penguins countered with go F yourself!

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Jessica's avatar

"Sub-deals" - I mean....its very funny but also pathetic. You can actually hear his voice start to tremor right before he starts lying about the "sub-deals".

How does he live with himself? What an embarrassment to the USA.

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PK's avatar

He's a billionaire; he lives just fine with himself!

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Jessica's avatar

Money does not make people happy. You don't think he feels ashamed or embarrassed? I bet he does.

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PK's avatar
Apr 30Edited

Well, he certainly should feel ashamed and embarrassed. I wonder what he gets out of this? More money?? Is it worth it? Or is his judgment so poor that he's oblivious to how people see him? Same with M. Rubio. I'm not sure who said it, or if it was even a famous person, but someone once said the reason they could never go into politics is that they don't know how to be more than one person. These guys have completely turned coat and now say things completely opposite to what they're on record as saying only a short while ago. They are actually quite scary people; akin to sociopaths, if not actual sociopaths.

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Jessica's avatar

I could not agree with you more.

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Jane's avatar

He never knows anything.

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Marla Martin's avatar

This is the game plan in the courts too. The lawyers going to court insist they don't know the answers to the judge's questions. I Don't Know is code for "We are lying or don't want you to know."

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Patrick Flannery's avatar

Can anyone imagine for one second that if there was even one instance of any country signing any new deal with more favourable terms for America that Bessent and the entire Trump admin would not be running through the streets waving it over their heads? I didn't think so. There are no deals. There will be no deals because America can no longer be trusted to observe the terms of any deal. Here in Canada we had a deal. It is now ashes. Why on earth would we sign another one?

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Jessica's avatar

But maybe Trump can make some good "sub-deals" with Canada?

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Patrick Flannery's avatar

True. You've agreed to leave your stuff on your side of the border and we've agreed not to go over there and buy it.

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Jessica's avatar

Ouch. So True. And I really am sorry about Trump. Everyone I know hates him, but alas....we all suffer.

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Patrick Flannery's avatar

Ya, we all get that it's not what most Americans want. And that the Trump support is coming from people who couldn't locate Canada on a map. We're actually trying to do our bit to save y'all from yourselves by NOT negotiating with the bully and instead taking the pain ourselves in order to inflict maximum pain down there. We'll do a 5-6 percent recession here to inflict a 2-percent recession there. We know that a population that voted for Trump because they thought the strongest economy in the world was a "disaster" doesn't have the balls to take a real recession for any length of time. We're used to periods of bad growth and high unemployment up here...it's not a big deal compared to the average Canadian winter. When trucks cost $40,000 more than they do now it should drive Trump's approvals down into Sarah's magic 30-percent zone and maybe your assholes in Washington will finally decide to cut this clown loose.

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Katie's avatar

My unproductive comment re: Scott Bessent: LOOK AT THE LACK OF MAKEUP BLENDING lol: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/23/bessent-says-us-will-seek-reforms-of-imf-world-bank-00305728

Scott is worth how much and can't get a blender brush? I would like Tim to discuss at length - lol

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Sally D.'s avatar

Yikes, that is scary!

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Deborah L. Hall's avatar

He needs to use Pete’s makeup studio.

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Carol E Smith's avatar

I noticed this too, and it reminded me of some comedian who recently referenced Elon's "laminated face." Ha!!!

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Jessica's avatar

Haha! I looked and you are right! What is going on with his makeup? It is terrible.

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Tim_TEC's avatar

Scott Bessent was supposed to be the adult in the room to keep Trump on a leash. How's that working out? It's more like Bessent is just another lying Trump lickspittle fluffer. When asked about Trump's claim they've had ongoing trade talks with China, where China denies there have been any substantive talks, Bessent lies and says there are lots of talks. Guess who's telling the truth. Who would have ever believed that the Communist Chinese dictator would have more credibility than our own lying government?

Then today Bessent says it's 'up to China' to deescalate trade tensions. What the eff is he talking about? Trump and his band of morons are saying it's up to the victim of Trump's idiotic trade war to fix the f-up Trump started. Our nation is being governed by the lying Confederacy of Dunces.

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Spencer Passmore's avatar

Concepts of sub deals 🤦🏻‍♂️.

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Dave Yell's avatar

The Boss meatball sandwich at Subway. Now there is a deal!

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Ann P's avatar

Fwiw, Scott Bessent is not the Cabinet member in charge of trade and tariffs. That is Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary.

“Trump’s ‘Buoyant’ Trade Warrior Flexes His Power Over Global Business

Howard Lutnick, the secretary of commerce, has become a go-to for major companies seeking relief from tariffs. But he’s not always friendly to their interests.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/business/economy/howard-lutnick-trump-tariffs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

“ Mr. Lutnick, 63, heads a department that both promotes and regulates industry and he has been put in charge of overseeing trade. As a result, he has found himself in a position of incredible influence, as the go-between for a president imposing sweeping tariffs and the industries being crushed by them.”

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Ann P's avatar

Do you think the average person KNOWS that the ports are emptying out and the cargo ships have stopped coming? Do think the average person KNOWS that the shelves will soon be empty? Does the average person even watch the Sunday shows? I get the feeling from my red state neighbors that they’re basically oblivious. Nothing in their daily routine has changed at all. When I stop watching/reading The Bulwark and go out to the grocery store, the bank, my OLLI classes, the Mexican restaurant for dinner and margaritas, nothing has changed. It all looks and feels exactly like it did 6 months ago. It’s all well and good for Tim to talk to the Nola shop owner who’s in a panic, but are the tourists who buy from her in a panic? Do they know the shop will be out of business by the end of the summer? I doubt it. They probably don’t even know who Scott Bessent is.

Look, we’re talking about a country where people like my OLLI friend, who hates Trump and voted for Harris, two weeks before the election had never even heard the words “Project 2025”. She knows what it is now, but has only a vague idea of what’s in it. Until this information reaches the consciousness of the average American, nothing will get done.

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Patricia McKeown's avatar

A spot-on description of the “average” American, uninterested, uninformed, and uneducated. Thirty+million of us could not be bothered to vote in the last election. We are spoiled, whiney, and shameful.

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Tim_TEC's avatar

>"Do think the average person KNOWS that the shelves will soon be empty?"

They'll find out soon enough. This is the time of year that all of the retailers are making their orders for Christmas. Guess what we'll get this Christmas? No presents under the tree. The only thing we can hope for is a lump of "clean coal" in our stocking.

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Herman Jacobs's avatar

Everyone on the substacks understands what sub-deals are.

All sub-deals are a sub-lie, but not every sub-lie is a sub-deal. Trump and his lackeys tell sub-lies about many different things, not just about sub-deals. For example, they told many sub-lies about the 2020 election. All those sub-lies about the 2020 election combined to make The Big Lie.

For Trump and his lackeys, lying and repeating lies to each other defines their relationship.

Trump does not require his lackeys to believe his lies, only to repeat them.

In the most profound sense, Trump does not even want his lackeys to believe his lies.

If they repeated his lies because they really did believe him, that would display a loyalty to truth, when what Trump demands is a loyalty to himself.

For Trump, compelling his lackeys to repeat his lies—when he and they know his lies are lies—is the utmost display of dominance and control. For Trump’s lackeys, repeating his lies—when he and they know his lies are lies—is utmost display of submission and servility.

Trump and his lackeys are trapped together in a cowardly cycle of lies, which they must constantly invent, hear, and repeat, because they both crave constant reassurance of their status.

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MyNanaJan's avatar

We’re just preaching to the choir. People have been educated. Let’s fight at the front lines.Challenge every Democratic legislator to glue themselves to a Republican legislator everyday and bombard them with questions as to why they are allowing this administration to destroy our country. Ask them the hard questions. Attend press conferences. Record and post every time they do this.  Then I will believe you care.

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Susan Douglas's avatar

It's absolutely mind boggling. At this point, I'm willing to suffer at the stores (depleted shelves) because that's what it's going to take for the entire country to realize that the Emperor Has No Clothes!

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Maribeth's avatar

Pretty soon most of the United States will have no clothes!

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Alondra's avatar

90 days is the new 2 weeks. Sub deals are the new beautiful repeal and replace. Bessent is the best people. Our genius geniusing.

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Jeffry's avatar

You can hear this guy's voice shake when he makes up the BS about subdeals. It blows my mind that people who were once considered serious line up to disgrace themselves for Trump.

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Jessica's avatar

I heard that too (and noted the same). His "tell" is his voice starts trembling when he starts the lying....

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Greg WF's avatar

It’s a sad fact, but the Hyperdyne 120/A2 Bessent Series have a relatively lackluster Human Acceptance Quotient. Most humans polled indicate the Bessent Synthetics are perceived as “Haughty” and “unapproachable.”

Unfortunately when synthetics like the Bessent Series are ordered to lie by an owner, that contradicts their core programming and behavioral inhibitors. This can lead to total system failure, or violent psychotic behavior.

Though an older model, rogue Bessents are highly dangerous to humans. A Bessent possesses approximately 5-7 times the strength of the average human male. Its speed, reflexes and spatial acuity are all far superior to average human levels.

If you encounter a Bessent behaving in an aberrant manner, do not approach it, and please call the Weyland Yutani Musk help line, or Colonial Administration. Your safety is our HIGHEST priority!

Weyland Yutani Musk

Building Better Worlds!

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Audrey R Wagner's avatar

Safety not guaranteed

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PK's avatar

Batteries not included.

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graceg's avatar

Worlds collide - I would have missed the "Barbie house" joke if I hadn't just watched Jon Lovett making fun of Bessent's aggressively pink home on Lovett or Leave It this weekend 😂

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Carol E Smith's avatar

I didn't know that and I still laughed, but now, hahahhahha!!!!

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Helen G's avatar

OMG, Tim, hearing this nonsense from the Treasury Secretary is just BAD. When I heard '...sub deal...' I farted. Seriously. This is infuriating.

Tim, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you listening to these shows and sharing the clips. I used to love watching the Sunday shows and I just can't do it anymore.

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Peg Dawson Harrington's avatar

As smooth and smarmy as this guy has to be to get into the inner circle….watching him struggle to obfuscate is cringe.

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ruserious's avatar

When I read 'smooth' I first thought you meant his face. Does this guy have botox and fillers? Obviously that question is not the point of the video but every time I see him his face is frozen.

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Jessica's avatar

He looks really weirdly smooth and needs to blend his thick foundation makeup better (see posters comment, above).

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Patricia McKeown's avatar

Perhaps he could repair to Hegseth’s new makeup room the next time.

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Peg Dawson Harrington's avatar

Frozen with fear &/or botox? Who knows? Lol! I meant smooth as in “oiled his way across the floor….”

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and try to spin this nonsense for Donald Trump. Anyway, I wanna watch the first clip about the most important thing, the China negotiation. And I'll explain to you what the many, many problems are with it on the other side.