Scott Bessant (4:20)

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. Well, let's, let's just keep everything consistent. I did speak to Doug McMillan, who I have a very good relationship yesterday, just to understand what he had to say. And, you know, understand that came from an earnings call. They are on an earnings call because of FCC requirements. They have to give the most draconian case. So Wal Mart 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. 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 there for being skittish after what happened to them. Four years under Biden, we had the worst inflation in 40 years.

Tim Miller (5:34)

He goes even further. I said his answer was better here. I just his performance was a little better. He didn't seem quite as nervous and jittery. But 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 are attacks on foreign countries, we're going to get rich on them, was wrong. And the consumers are going to bear the brunt of this. So you've got in two interviews Scott Bessant saying, yes, Walmart will eat it, so we'll lose. So, you know, big American companies are going to lose profitability because of this and consumers are going to get hit. So it's a double whammy. And he admitted it over the course of two interviews. Also want to talk about speaking of bad things going on with the economy, Moody's had downgraded America. I think that happened after my last pod on Friday. So I haven't had a chance to cover it yet. Moody, Moody's downgraded our credit rating off of aaa, the last rating agency to do so. And here was Besson's response to that on Meet the Press.

Scott Bessant (6:33)

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 10 year the, they've made 10 year investment plans. So this administration, we're doing peace deals, trade deals and tax deals.

Tim Miller (6:54)

Who cares? Who cares? People should care. 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, 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. And you start to look at like how much we are paying per month in interest on our debt. You know, like the percentage of the GDP that's going to interest on the debt is higher than you'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, 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. It is just a totally nonsensical plan from a fiscal responsibility standpoint. And in the context of these guys acting like Doge was all about dealing with the deficit but tariffs were going to deal with the deficit, the opposite has happened. They're putting forth a plan that is going to balloon the deficit more than any other of the recent presidents have, who haven't exactly been very fiscally responsible going back through Biden, Trump before that, then Obama, then W and all of them increase the debt. And what, what his plans are for here is, is larger than all of them. So it's not a surprise that the ratings agencies are going to downgrade us. But, but you know, from Besson's 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. 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 ratings agencies say? Lastly, speaking of those, our new besties in the Middle east, he was asked, of course, about the plane. And I liked this one.

Scott Bessant (9:03)

I say that the gifts are to the American people. These trillions of dollars of investments that are going to create jobs. Whether it's the UAE building this gigantic aluminum plant in Oklahoma, whether it's these data centers that Qatar is going to do, is 600 billion on its way to a trillion from Saudi that it all accrues to the American people.

Tim Miller (9:29)

It's a gift to the American people. In the Tapper interview, we don't need to play that one. But he does the Statue of Liberty comparison, which is like, did the Statue of Liberty go to the presidential library of James Garfield? I don't think so. Was that really like akin to a fancy plane for Donald Trump? 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 Qatar, though I don't really. No, thanks. As far as I'm concerned, it's not a gift I'm interested in, but there's just this whole notion that this was some, that the dear leader just with his grace and generosity bestowed this on the American people. He's so happy to share this gift. Bullshit. Do I get to ride on the plane? You know, do my boys down on the west bank over here, they get to ride on the plane? 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 shit. So, anyway, thanks, but no thanks on the gift to the American people. There's Scott Besson again, just kind of stammering and really struggling. And you can see the worst part about it is he's so haughty. 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 was yet another shaky performance from somebody that thinks he's doing a lot better job than he is. So, anyway, we'll be back here for more. I'll be back with Bill Kristal tomorrow. He had a very important discussion with Tom Malinowski, former congressman from New Jersey, today. Go and check that out if you've missed it. And then I'll be back with Bill as usual on Monday. We'll be seeing you all then. Go Nuggets. My old school, Mount Mutombo Jersey. Now, here, let me just show it to you. Everybody's going to see it. There we go. Go Nuggets. We'll see y' all soon. Subscribe to the feed.

Ryan Seacrest (11:42)

Ryan Seacrest here. When you have a busy schedule, it's important to maximize your downtime. One of the best ways to do that is by going to chumbacasino.com Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino games like spin slots, bingo and solitaire that you can play for free for a chance to redeem some serious prizes. So hop on to chumbacasino.com now and live the Chumba life. Sponsored by Chumba Casino.

Tim Miller (12:06)

No purchase necessary. VGW Group void where prohibited by law, 21/ terms and conditions apply.