Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent is smart and unflappable. He must enjoy roasting his presumed betters in the mainstream media. In the clip below, Secretary Bessent explains that the $20 billion “bailout” of Argentina was not “a bailout.” Rather, he says, it was a profitable currency swap. His MSNBC interlocutor doesn’t know what a currency swap is. I trust but I cannot verify that the transaction(s) has been or will be profitable. I have found details hard to come by. However, Bessent is certainly an expert in macroeconomic investing. I don’t think the Morning Joe team even knows how to drill down on the issue. Secretary Bessent himself tweeted out the clip.
Economic security is national security. And this administration successfully pursued peace through economic strength to stabilize an ally in Latin America.
Our intervention in Argentina was never a “bailout.” It was a swap line that made money for the American people. pic.twitter.com/WzLzPDqpoB
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) November 11, 2025
In the exchange below Secretary Bessent humbles Mike Barnicle. Barnicle prefaces his barnburner of a question with the “hope that this question doesn’t piss [him] off.” He could simply have respectfully posed the question without the nasty implication. In the event, Barnicle thanks Secretary Bessent for straightening him out. Ouch!
Scott Bessent absolutely demolishes bumblin’ Mike Barnicle.
So badly that Barnicle winds up having to thank Bessent for “straightening me out.”@SecScottBessent @Morning_Joe pic.twitter.com/T0U2x6gLZn
— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) November 11, 2025
