Scott Bessent babbles that easing sanctions on Iranian oil makes them less money
Bessent was on Sunday's Meet The Press.
Kristen Welker wouldn't let's go of the fact that sanctions on Iranian oil had been eased and that Iran could make more money. Bessent tried to put forth the lie that Iran would have been selling its oil at a much higher price, like $140 a barrel, instead of the less than $100 a barrel they would get, because there was more oil on the market. Well, that doesn't work because Iranian oil had been selling at a $8 to $10 discount over the rest of the medium to heavy grade crude oil on the market. Easing sanctions did make them more money. They could actually charge higher prices on oil already in transit. Look it up yourself. The price of oil can change by the hour, even with the oil being in a tanker. Tankers will go to a different destination just to sell it at a higher price. There is no fixed price. Saying that easing sanctions just on the Iranian oil on the water is going to keep the price of oil down has no bearing on the real world market. Not being sanctioned means they can get cheaper insurance for the voyage and cargo. This shows a complete ignorance of how the oil market works by Scott Bessent and Donald trump.
Bessent tried the same argument with Russian oil. And Welker would have none of it. She punched holes in his logic time after time as he sputtered and tried to come up with an answer. The same logic that didn't work with Iran also doesn't work with Russia. They could charge higher prices with oil already in transit. Bessent is one of the worst spokespeople for the Trump administration, and it's amazing that they keep putting him out front.
Then Welker moved on to the cost of the war, playing clips from Republicans like Lauren Boebert, who said she was a hard “no” on a $200 billion supplemental bill. Welker asked if Trump would ever raise taxes to pay for the war. Bessent once again said her question was "terrible framing,” as he used time and time again as Welker was asking him about the easing of sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil. “There is no prosperity without security,” Bessent said. This is no different than George Orwell's 1984 phrases: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” We are living in Orwell's world under Donald Trump. Then Bessent said about the war that, “Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.” That's what happened in the forever wars starting with Vietnam, but there never was any de-escalation. I rest my case.
Then Welker read Trump's first post from yesterday saying that he was glad Mueller was dead, and she asked him if this was appropriate for a president to write. He waffled time and time again, saying we don't know anything about how this affected Trump and his family. That had absolutely nothing to do with what he was asked, which was about Trump's gleeful post that Robert Mueller was dead. See it yourself.
What is Bessent talking about? Chris Wray was the FBI director when the Mar-a-Lago raid for the classified documents took place. Trump was guilty but never paid the price. What has been done to Donald Trump and his family by law enforcement? Not a damn thing! That's the problem. We need to have empathy for Trump? Trump has no sympathy or empathy for anyone. Robert Mueller was not a criminal. Trump has been his whole life.
The only thing Scott Bessent has got going for him is that he wasn't in cahoots with Jeffrey when Epstein was alive, like Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. But he is part of the Epstein cover-up by withholding banking information such as the suspicious activity reports that covered over $1 billion with all the banks he dealt with.
Here's the whole 15 minute interview with Scott Bessent:
Every single cabinet secretary in the Trump administration should be fired. Some for incompetence, some for criminality, all for grift and graft. Kristi Noem didn't really get fired, she just moved sideways to the Shield of the Americas. They all need to be fired and never serve in government again.