Trump’s Treasury Chief Blows It LIVE on TV

Trump’s Treasury Chief Blows It LIVE on TV

Hey everybody, it’s Tim Miller from the Bull Work. Uh my favorite affected Treasury Secretary Pony Scott Bessant uh was doing the rounds this morning. He’s on with Jake Tapper uh as well as Christian Welker on Meet the Press. And uh wanted to highlight a few of his comments. Uh starting with a response to the Walmart CEO said in an earnings call this week that um uh that they were going to have to eat some of the tariffs. Not not really a great sign there when you have this massive company that touches so many parts of the economy uh expressing those concerns on their earnings call. So obviously Bessant was asked about that on both shows. Let’s go to his chat with Christian Welker first. I was on the phone with Doug McMillan, the CEO of Walmart yesterday and Walmart is in fact the going to the as you describe it eat some of the tariffs uh that just as they did in 181 19 and 20. Uh the other thing though that we are seeing that Doug passed along to me that with their consumer the single most important thing is the gasoline price and gasoline prices have collapsed under President Trump. So we we are seeing that the other thing that will happen that is a direct tax cut for consumers. Then the transportation cost are also a big input. So let’s see what happens. what you were describing was Walmart’s earnings call. The other thing that companies have to do, they have to give the worst case scenario so that they’re not sued. So, you know, I I think overall we are seeing a decline in services inflation and I you saw inflation come down for the first time in four years. So, interesting there uh Besson who who you know had said let them eat big screen TVs a little while ago. you talk about how Americans didn’t really need cheap goods. Um uh a little bit with let them eat tariffs. Uh let Walmart eat some of the tariffs. As said Walmart will eat some of the tariffs. Uh this is interesting um because again Trump has been pushing the fact that the tariffs were going to be attacks on these other countries and we were going to get rich off of them. Now it’s American companies that have to eat it. I I you know I do this over and over again but it is just unimaginable like the outrage the outcry in the business community on CNBC and the Wall Street Journal if if Barack Obama you know had just been like yo Walmart’s just got to you know eat it when I put a stupid policy uh on them that is going to uh hurt earnings um hurt their profitability um uh you know there would you know be this outcry about how this is an attack on the job creators in business well We’re Trump is doing an attack on the job creators and uh and his Treasury Secretary is out there just saying yeah they’re just going to have to eat it. Um another interesting side note of this well too I have uh one he talks about how the good news is that the energy prices are collapsing. It’s actually not a great economic sign that energy prices are collapsing. I know everybody wants low gas prices at and low prices at the pump but um the prices aren’t collapsing because of good news. They’re they’re collapsing because uh there’s concerns about recession. Um so I I just think it’s funny. It’s a funny spin, a funny talking point. Energy prices are collapsing. We’re doing so well. Um and also just uh you’ll get to see in the Tapper interview. I don’t know which one was t taped first. He seemed a little sharper in the tapper interview. Uh because in this one uh he he’s like choking over the answer. Uh trying to kind of spit out how to how to defend this. um uh wasn’t wasn’t really I don’t know. It didn’t uh fill me with confidence. Let’s just say um let’s look to his answer on Tapper. Jake, in essence, what you’re saying is you’re saying taxes are inflationary, so let’s pass the Trump tax cuts and that’ll be disinflationary if we continue that line of thinking. I don’t know that you can put me on as endorsing anything, but go ahead. Uh well, I let’s let’s just keep everything consistent. I I I did speak to Doug McMillan uh who I have a very good relationship yesterday just to understand uh what he had to say and you know understand that came from an earnings call the on an earnings call because of SEC requirements they have to give the most draconian case so Walmart will be absorbing some of the tariffs some may get passed on to consumers but the other thing that’s happening is that inflation is down we had the first drop in inflation in four years under President Trump. Uh the other thing that Doug mentioned to me is for his consumers, for his buyers, the most important thing are gasoline prices. And this administration has gotten gasoline prices down. Service prices are down. So overall, I would expect inflation to remain in line. But I don’t blame consumers the for being skittish after what happened to him four years under Biden. We had the worst inflation in 40 years. He goes even further. I I said his answer was better here. I just his performance was a little better. He didn’t seem quite as nervous and jittery. U but the the actual line here, some will get passed on to consumers. So once again, this is them admitting that the whole conceit of these tariffs that there were attacks on foreign countries, we’re going to get rich on them was wrong and that consumers are going to uh bear the brunt of this. So you’ve got in two interviews Scott Besson saying yes, Walmart will eat it, so we’ll lose. So you know, big American companies are going to lose profitability. um because of this and consumers are getting it hit. So, it’s a double whammy and he admitted it over the course of two interviews. Um also want to talk about uh speaking of bad things going on with the economy. Uh Moody’s had downgraded America. I think that happened after my last pod on Friday. Haven’t had a chance to cover it yet. Um Moody Moody’s gra downgraded our credit rating off of AAA the last rating agency to do so. And um here was Besson’s response to that on Meet the Press. And if we go back to your initial question on the Moody’s downgrade, who cares? Qatar doesn’t, Saudi doesn’t, UAE doesn’t. They’re all pushing money in. They want to they’ve made 10year the they made 10-year investment plans. So, this administration, we’re doing peace deals, trade deals, and tax deals. Who cares? Who cares? I I people should care. I I mean again there was once a time where there was concern about fiscal discipline not just tax cuts in the Republican party and the fact that we have this bill happening on the hill right now um which is going to just balloon the debt even more where there is no even attempt to try to bring you know some fiscal responsibility in you start to look at like the how much we are paying per month in interest on our debt um you know like the percentage of the GDP that’s going to interest on the debt is it’s higher than we’d like it to be and it’s not catastrophic, but it’s higher than you’d like it to be. And now we’re just t, you know, going to press the gas on that in this new bill to pay for massive tax cuts for people at the top end of the scale. Um, it is just a totally nonsensical plan from a fiscal responsibility standpoint. Um, and you know, in the context of these guys acting like Doge was all about dealing with the deficit, the tariffs were going to deal with the deficit, like the opposite has happened. They are putting forth a plan that is going to balloon the deficit more than any other of the recent presidents have. Um, who haven’t exactly been very fiscally responsible going back through Biden, Trump before that, then Obama, then W and all of them increased the debt. And what what his plans are for here is is larger than all of them. Uh so it’s not a surprise that the ratings agencies are going to downgrade us but but you know from Besson standpoint who cares because the Qataris like us you know we can do bribes with regional like mid mid to small mid regional sand sand dictatorships. uh you know these the theocracies the quasi the theocratic fascists in the Middle East will do deals with us still so who cares what the what the uh ratings agencies say. Um lastly speaking of those uh our new besties uh in the Middle East uh he was asked of course about the plane and I liked this one. Uh I I I say that the gifts are to the American people. These trillions of dollars of investments that are going to create jobs in the US. Whether it’s the UAE building this gigantic aluminum plant in Oklahoma, whether it’s these data centers that Qatar is the going to do is 600 billion on its way to a trillion from Saudi that it all acrus to the American people. It’s a gift to the American people. won the tapper interview. We don’t need to play that one, but he does the Statue of Liberty comparison. Um, which is like, did the Statue of Liberty go to the presidential library of James Garfield? I don’t think so. Um, was that really like akin to a fancy plane for Donald Trump? Uh, no. And everybody knows that. But I love this one, which is that it’s a gift to the American people. I guess what he’s trying to say is that the gift is all of the wealth that we’re going to get from cutter, though I don’t really No thanks. um uh as far as I’m concerned uh it’s not a gift I’m interested in, but um there’s just this whole notion that that this was some that the the dear leader just with his grace and generosity bestowed this on on the American people. He’s so happy to share this gift. Do I get to ride on the plane? You know, does uh do my do my boys down on the West Bank over here, they get to ride on the plane? my my kids, folks I grew up with in Littleton, Colorado, regular people with regular jobs. Any of them get to ride on the plane? No, this is not a gift to the American people. This is a gift to Trump because Trump wants a fancy plane because he’s embarrassed that Air Force One is too old and he likes to have gaudy, opulent So anyway, thanks, but no thanks on a gift to the American people. There’s Scott Besson again just kind of stammering um and really strugg and and you can see the worst part about it is he’s so hotty. You can see how proud of himself he is. Like he thinks that he’s like that he’s doing something well here. You’re not fooling anybody, Scott. You’re not fooling anybody. Everybody sees through it. Um it was yet another shaky performance from uh from somebody that thinks he’s doing a lot better job than he is. So anyway, um we’ll be back here for more. I’ll be back with Bill Crystal tomorrow. He had a very important discussion with Tom Melinowski, former uh congressman from New Jersey uh today. Go and check that out if you’ve missed it. Uh, and then I’ll be back with Bill as usual on Monday. Um, we’ll be seeing you all then. Go Nuggets. It’s my old school Mount Matumbbo jersey. Now, here, let me just show it to you. Let’s Everybody Everybody’s going to want to see it. There we go. Go Nuggets. We’ll see you all soon. Subscribe to the feed.

Tim Miller explains how Trump’s team admits their own policies are hurting American businesses and consumers while pretending it is all good news.

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