Digging into President Trump’s choice for Treasury: Why South Carolinian Scott Bessent is a wise choice
By Charles W. Waring III
Global finance and top-tier currency trading are not as far away from the quiet Horry County seat of Conway as you might think; this is where son of the South Scott K. H. Bessent was born in 1962. Just a stone’s throw from the Waccamaw River, his Huguenot blood flows through his early memories, heading to Little River where he grew up. Today from the upper windows of Five East Battery — which he is in the process of selling — Scott can view Charleston Harbor and envision the ships that brought his Horry and Vereen ancestors to the New World to find freedom from religious persecution in France.
He can also see how today’s mega containerships are an essential part of the global trading system in which he has participated with great success. As with so many South Carolinians, he has the same connection as the famous “Goose Creek Men,” as his Bessent ancestors arrived here in 1672 via Barbados. On his mother’s side, he claims the McLeods, another prominent clan. For most mortals, Scott’s rare perspective and position would be part and parcel of enjoying the good life; however, like Thomas Jefferson, he has decided to sacrifice his time and give his insight and experience to a higher goal: accepting President Trump’s November 22 nomination to be the 79th secretary of the Department of the Treasury.
The market rallied with this appointment: CNBC’s Jim Cramer commented at the time: “What matters is that this treasury secretary designate is a serious person, not unlike Steven Mnuchin before him. And those who believed Trump couldn’t get a dollop of rigor in the cabinet — well, they’ve been proven wrong.”
Ambassador Ed McMullen, a resident of Sullivan’s Island and former ambassador to Switzerland and Lichtenstein, is one of our state’s leading authorities on everything to do with President Trump and his planning. We asked him for his thoughts on what kind of appointee the United States Senate will soon consider for one of the most important positions in the executive branch. He said:
Scott’s dedication to the Charleston community has transformed some of our most cherished local spaces and inspired countless others to do the same. His commitment to historic preservation and architectural integrity of Charleston’s great heritage has helped preserve some of our most beautiful homes in Charleston. A man who never sought attention for himself, he simply rolled up his sleeves and did the work. For those who know his generosity, we are grateful for Scott’s many contributions throughout the years to our community, including his generous support of his Huguenot heritage, many hospitals, scholarships, historic landmarks and more.
Moving to a bigger playing field, Ambassador McMullen knows how the pieces of government fit together and why some players are suited for particular roles. He is also someone who understands the world of investing and sees what this appointment means for our pocketbooks and said: “He will thrive in this integral role to build a strong and powerful U.S. economy — our nation and the world will be the beneficiaries of his intellect and his ability to inspire the investment and innovation that powers modern economies.”
Both of our U.S. senators are hugely supportive of Scott, as is our Governor Henry McMaster. He remarked about his professional qualifications, global connections and loyalty to his family and friends. Gov. McMaster continued and summed up his thoughts and put this nominee in perspective when he noted:
Along his way from the small, beautiful dot on the South Carolina coast called Little River, to Yale, to Wall Street and now to Washington, he has taught students, provided scholarships, restored and preserved historic homes and buildings, and comforted children at the Shriners Hospital in Greenville and the Children’s Zone in New York. The heart and mind of this son of South Carolina are enormous: a perfect fit for Donald Trump’s America.
If your mother told you that it was tacky to talk about someone else’s money, forgive us for a moment, as President Trump’s nominee is a fellow billionaire. We dug into Scott’s background online and learned that he is the founder of the Key Square Group, which is known as a “global macro investment and advisory firm.” It also happens that his family office is “one of the largest owners of agricultural land in North Dakota.”
Scott was not always as financially secure as he is today. His father, H. Gaston Bessent, Jr. was a real estate developer whose business was subject to boom/bust cycles. He often says that days of economic hardship nudged him into his first job at nine years old when he was putting up beach chairs and umbrellas in Ocean Drive Beach. In the same era, he also worked as a busboy. The downtimes for his father’s business opened his eyes to what difficult finances can do to families, and he is determined to be a force to help the average citizen.
He is known as one of the globe’s foremost macro hedge fund managers, but he is willing to put his head in the lion’s mouth of the U.S. Senate for the purpose of getting our nation’s economy thriving again. Our sources speak of what is unheard behind all the commentary about Scott Bessent and point to his ability to draw from various experiences and environments and not become twisted into a prisoner of the ivory tower, though he graduated from Yale University in 1984 and taught economic history there from 2006 to 2010.
He is aware of the challenges of living in Washington and, if confirmed, will head up there with his family as well as another friend — a dog, as Harry Truman suggested. We learned that his 105-pound German shepherd is named Duchess, and we cannot think of a better friend when it comes to being prepared for the nasty side of D.C.
Scott was often criticized for his association with George Soros’s firm and was particularly excoriated by rivals who sought the job for which President Trump nominated him. The reality is that any ambitious trader would have wished to get a job with the Soros operation and learn how to thrive in the investment world. Moreover, the proof is in the appointee’s recent political giving, and any search will demonstrate that he has given at large levels to Republicans for the last 25 years. That was not always the case earlier, but he has been firmly in the GOP financial camp for quite a while.
As part of that GOP world, he has been advocating the “3/3/3 plan” for keeping the 2017 tax cuts in place, addressing the affordability crisis of the average citizen and setting the agenda for global trade. The latter is often a spark for how tariffs will create inflation, although most insiders see them simply as a tool to bend adversaries to the will of American policy.
Scott grew up in the Pee Dee and knows the sad sight of a closed textile plant, in large part a victim of NAFTA, and that influences his determination to push policies that will help manufacturing grow across the country and especially in the rural areas that have suffered greatly. Moreover, expect to see advocacy for financial deregulation on the macro level such that it translates into the micro level as better credit for households and small businesses.
If you are looking to bump into Scott, hang out at Chubby Fish on the weekends and you might get a peek there before you see him on the television in front of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. Our state has a long history of providing persons of vision and passion to the public policy arena; this paper’s analysis as well as our elected officials and our finest spies all agree that Scott Bessent will be among the most consequential figures ever to represent the Palmetto State and likely one to make us all very proud.
