Politico's Rachael Bade reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened a colleage in the Trump Administration at a private dinner. "Why the fuck are you talking to the president about me? Fuck you," Bessent told Bill Pulte, a housing finance official. "I'm gonna punch you in your fucking face."
But amid the cocktail-hour din, Bessent lashed out at Pulte in an expletive-laden diatribe. The Treasury secretary had heard from several people that the Federal Housing Finance Agency director had been badmouthing him to Trump, a person close to him said. He wasn't about to engage in chit-chat as if nothing was amiss.
… It's either me or him," Bessent said to [dinner host] Malik. "You tell me who's getting the fuck out of here."
"Or," he added, "we could go outside."
"To do what?" asked Pulte. "To talk?"
"No," Bessent replied. "I'm going to fucking beat your ass."
Scott Bessent is a 63 year-old hedge fund manager: any reasonably healthy adult human being (not Elon) could pick him up with two fingers, crumple him up like copy paper and toss him into the nearest bin. Him picking real physical fights with random colleagues that annoy him seems like it might be a metaphor for the Trump administration itself. It keeps going and keeps getting worse because those positioned to oppose it are easily bullied or think they will win by not bothering.
