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Scott Bessent‘s interview with George Stephanopoulos quickly devolved into a verbal sparring match on Sunday. The Treasury Secretary appeared on This Week and spent a good portion of his interview speaking over and throwing jabs at the ABC host. Stephanopoulos opened a segment about the shutdown, asking Bessent what he thought about President Donald Trump’s fixation on scrapping the Senate filibuster in order to push votes through. “Is that the best way to end this shutdown right now? Is that what the administration position is?” he asked. “No, George, the best way to do it...” Bessent began, before abandoning the question and opting to attack Stephanopoulos’ political career. Stephanopoulos held a senior advising position during the first Clinton administration and later wrote a book, All Too Human: A Political Education, about the experience. Bessent evaded discussing the present shutdown by referencing the one that took place nearly 30 years ago. “Look, you were involved in a lot of these in the nineties,” Bessent said. “And you know, you basically called the Republicans terrorists and, you know, you said that it is not the responsible party that keeps the government closed.” Bessent was attempting to use analysis Stephanopoulos made decades ago regarding President Bill Clinton’s 1995-96 shutdowns to blame Democrats today for the record-breaking shutdown under Trump. “So what we need is five, brave, moderate Democratic senators to cross the aisle,” Bessent continued. “Because right now it is fifty-two to three, five Democrats could cross the aisle and reopen the government. That’s the best way to do it, George.” George quickly responded: “I can disagree with you about the history there, but we don’t need a history lesson right now.” Things then fell apart completely, with both men speaking loudly over each other as Stephanopoulos tried to move on. “If you want, I’ve got all your quotes here, George,” said Bessent, with the ABC host interjecting: “I’m sure you do, but let’s talk about the situation right now.” Bessent raised his voice further. “I’ve read your book, so you got one purchase on Amazon this week,” he said with a smile. “And that’s very much what you said.” Stephanopoulos retaliated: “That’s a mischaracterization of history.” He returned to the question that started the argument, asking once more: “But I do want to talk about right now. Is the best way to end the shutdown right now to end the filibuster?” Bessent sidestepped either supporting or condemning the filibuster ‘nuclear option,’ that Trump has repeatedly called for, but repeated: “The best way is for five Democratic senators to come across the aisle.” Bessent has remained ever-loyal to Trump, who last month made it clear that Stephanopoulos was at the top of his list of enemies after the ABC star cut short a similarly tense interview with JD Vance.
