{"id":5164,"date":"2026-08-21T22:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T22:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5164"},"modified":"2026-08-21T22:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T22:09:06","slug":"trump-official-sold-his-soul-to-gaslight-us-and-failed-nobel-economist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5164","title":{"rendered":"Trump official sold his soul to ‘gaslight’ US \u2014 and failed: Nobel economist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

One of President Donald Trump\u2019s officials has proven he\u2019s willing to \u201csell his soul\u201d to \u201cgaslight\u201d Americans about the economy, but his failure to do so has both harmed the U.S. and destroyed his credibility. This is according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman<\/u>, who on Friday detailed how Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent\u2019s \u201cDear Leader\u201d approach flopped. <\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s \u2018lame-duckery\u2019 is picking up some brutal speed<\/a><\/p>\n

As Krugman explains, when Bessent was initially appointed, experts were relieved that Trump had chosen a \u201ccredible Treasury secretary who has a real understanding of the global economy.\u201d Since then, however, Bessent has proven himself to be a \u201cconsummate Trump sycophant.\u201d Krugman points to what the secretary declared when announcing Trump\u2019s signature would appear on money \u2013 a first for a sitting president. Said Bessent, \u201cUnder President Trump\u2019s leadership, we are on a path toward unprecedented economic growth, lasting dollar dominance, and fiscal strength and stability. There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S dollar bills bearing his name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bessent made this assertion in March, when the economy already had warning signals flashing and was just beginning to be hit by Trump\u2019s disastrous decision to launch war with Iran. According to Krugman, this sort of \u201clove-struck\u201d talk \u201ccarries the potential for enormous financial and economic costs for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, says Krugman, Bessent has routinely made \u201cassertions about the state of the economy that are manifestly, glaringly untrue \u2013 as if he can gaslight the professionals who closely track economic data. A couple of weeks ago, for example, Bessent rejected the widespread view that we have a \u2018K-shaped economy\u2019 in which a few people are doing well but many are falling behind,\u201d saying, \u201cI get sick of hearing about this K-shaped economy, I can say here definitively, the K-shaped economy is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Krugman, \u201cBessent tried to back up his claim by pointing to data on wages, which showed that those in the top 25 percent had slightly lower wage gains than those in the bottom 25 percent. But nobody familiar with the data was fooled. High-income Americans receive much of their income from capital, not labor, while many lower-income Americans rely on food stamps and other programs that are facing savage cuts under Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here Krugman notes a graph showing the real after-tax income of American adults over the course of Trump\u2019s second term, distinguishing the earnings of the top 1 percent from the bottom 50. It shows that income for the rich has marched up steadily, while the bottom 50 percent saw stagnant income then a steep decline starting in December. Based on this alone, says Krugman, \u201cIt\u2019s clear that Bessent\u2019s pronouncements are geared to an audience of one: Donald Trump. He doesn\u2019t mind sounding like a fool and a liar to the financial markets and to the American public as long as it pleases Dear Leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Republicans \u2018preparing to move on\u2019 from loser Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Bessent\u2019s efforts haven\u2019t just fallen flat with economists, but within his own agency. As Krugman writes, \u201cAccording to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan watchdog, 7 out of 16 Trump Treasury appointees confirmed by the Senate \u2014 that is, the very top Treasury officials \u2014 have left since the start of Trump II.\u201d As NOTUS reports, several left after \u201cdisagreements with the White House over demands to stretch, if not violate, tax law.\u201d As Mark Mazur, a former senior Treasury official, explained, \u201cA lot of these people expect to have a career after this administration, and being disbarred would be a bad thing for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then this week, Bessent attempted to reverse the recent spike in U.S. long-term interest rates by buying back 30-year Treasury bonds. According to Krugman, \u201cThis is just a swap of longer-term government debt for shorter-term, riskier government debt. It does nothing to resolve the underlying U.S. fiscal problems that caused the spike in the 30-year debt. Some analysts<\/u> call Bessent\u2019s strategy \u2018rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Krugman writes that the reasoning for Bessent\u2019s moves is \u201cclearly political: High long-term interest rates are an embarrassment for the Trump administration, and Bessent is trying to make the picture look prettier.\u201d But \u201cthe maneuver is failing: 30-year yields fell briefly on Wednesday, when the policy was announced, but bounced back on Thursday and were higher<\/u> as I write this than they were a week ago \u2014 clear proof that you can\u2019t gaslight the bond market.\u201d<\/p>\n

With all this in mind, Krugman arrives at a troubling conclusion, writing, \u201cBessent, a former bond trader himself, has squandered all of his credibility with his sycophancy, his apparent demands that top officials engage in unethical and probably illegal conduct, and his abuse of the Treasury\u2019s financial power for clearly political goals. And his ruined reputation will be a real problem if and when, like many of his predecessors, he encounters a crisis in which we really need a credible Treasury secretary with competent subordinates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump finds new way to \u2018cheat the law\u2019 and enact revenge on Americans<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of President Donald Trump\u2019s officials has proven he\u2019s willing to \u201csell his soul\u201d to \u201cgaslight\u201d Americans about the economy, but his failure to do so has both harmed the U.S. and destroyed his credibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump official sold his soul to 'gaslight' US \u2014 and failed: Nobel economist - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5164\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump official sold his soul to 'gaslight' US \u2014 and failed: Nobel economist - 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