SCOTT BESSENT, born on this date, is an American hedge fund manager and Republican quisling. He was a partner at Soros Fund Management and the founder of Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm.
Bessent has been a major fundraiser and donor for Donald Trump. He was an economic advisor for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. In November 2024, Trump named Bessent his nominee for United States secretary of the treasury. He is the second openly gay man to serve in the Cabinet of the United States (after Pete Buttigieg) and the third openly gay man to serve in a cabinet-level office (after Richard Grenell and Pete Buttigieg). As the United States secretary of the treasury is fifth in the United States presidential line of succession, he is the highest-ranking openly LGBTQ person in American history.
Bessent earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University in 1984. While in college, he was an editor for The Yale Daily News, president of Wolf’s Head Society, and treasurer for the class of 1984. He was chairman of the 1984 Yale Alumni Fund and assistant to the director of athletics.
After graduation, Bessent worked at Brown Brothers Harriman, Kynikos Associates, and others. Bessent joined Soros Fund Management (SFM) in 1991 and was a partner there throughout the 1990s, eventually becoming head of the London office. In 1992, Bessent was a leading member of the team whose bet on the Black Wednesday collapse of the British pound garnered over $1 billion for the firm. His bet against the Japanese yen in 2013 brought additional profit.
After resigning from SFM in 2000, Bessent founded a $1 billion hedge fund. The fund closed in 2005. Bessent has said he learned that he should not change his style or the construct of the firm because of investor preferences. He was also a senior investment advisor at fund-of-funds Protégé Partners. Bessent returned to Soros Fund Management and was chief investment officer from 2011 to 2015. He left in 2015 to begin a new firm, Key Square Group.
In 2000, Bessent hosted a fundraiser for Al Gore at his East Hampton, New York, home. He has also donated to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In 2016, Bessent donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s 2017 presidential inaugural committee. In 2023 and 2024, Bessent donated more than $1 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
In February 2024, Bessent hosted a fundraiser in Greenville, South Carolina, that raised nearly $7 million for Trump’s 2024 campaign. In April 2024, Bessent was a host for a Palm Beach, Florida, fundraiser that raised $50 million for the Trump campaign. In July 2024, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Bessent was a key economic advisor to Trump. He proposed a three-point economic plan for Trump modeled on Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s “Three Arrows” economic policy. Bessent praised Trump’s proposal to implement broad tariffs. Regarding Trump’s pledge to impose blanket 20% tariffs on all imports, Bessent argued that these “were maximalist positions that would probably be watered down in talks with trading partners”.
Bessent resides in Charleston, South Carolina, and belongs to the Huguenot Church, which his ancestors helped to build in 1680. Bessent and his husband, former New York City prosecutor John Freeman, have two children.
In 2016, Bessent purchased the historic John Ravenel House, owned by John Ravenel and inherited by his son St. Julien Ravenel and his wife Harriott Horry Ravenel. The building restoration project was awarded the Preservation Society of Charleston’s Carolopolis Award in 2021. The mansion is known as the “Pink Palace” and is located on Battery Street in Charleston. May he rot in hell.