This administration has a rough relationship with the media. And it’s only getting worse.
Now a top Trump official went on ABC and started throwing punches.
Shutdown Showdown: Bessent Calls Out Stephanopoulos’ 1995 “Terrorist” Jab
On Sunday’s This Week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent turned the tables on ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, forcing the host to relive his own fiery rhetoric from the 1995 government shutdown—when Stephanopoulos branded Republicans “terrorists” for refusing to fund the government without deep spending cuts.
Live TV Mic Drop: “I’ve Got All Your Quotes Right Here, George”
As Stephanopoulos pressed Bessent on the Trump administration’s strategy to end the current shutdown, Bessent fired back with a history lesson the anchor clearly wasn’t ready for:
“The best way to do it—and look, you were involved in a lot of these in the ’90s,” Bessent said.
“And, you know, you basically called the Republicans terrorists and, you know, you said that it is not the responsible party that keeps the government closed. And so, what we need is five brave, moderate Democratic senators to cross the aisle, because right now it is 52–3, 52–3. Five Democrats can cross the aisle and reopen the government. That’s the best way to do it, George.”
Stephanopoulos tried to wave it off: “I can disagree with you about the history there, but we don’t have a history lesson right now.”
Bessent wasn’t having it: “No, no, no. George, George, George… If you want, I’ve got all your quotes here. I got all your quotes here, George.”
The anchor called it a “mischaracterization of history” and pivoted back to his question.
The 2000 Confession That Just Resurfaced
In a newly unearthed 2000 PBS interview, Stephanopoulos openly bragged about the Clinton White House playbook that painted Republicans as extremists:
“Our strategy was very simple. We couldn’t buckle, and we had to say that they were blackmailing the country to get their way. In order to get their tax cut, they were willing to shut down the government, throw the country into default for the first time in its history and cut Medicare, Social Security, education and the environment just so they could get their way. And we were trying to say that they were basically terrorists, and it worked,” Stephanopoulos said.
Back then, Newt Gingrich’s GOP controlled Congress—and ultimately took the political fall. Twenty-five years later, the clip is now Exhibit A in the Trump administration’s argument that Democrats are the ones holding the government hostage.
