Social Security Bessent Trump Privatiz
Axios2 days
Bessent Clarifies Social Security 'Privatization' Comments
Above: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Stockholm on July 29, 2025. Image copyright: Magnus Lejhall/AFP/Getty Images
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Bessent inadvertently revealed the administration's true agenda to dismantle Social Security through privatization schemes. Despite campaign promises to protect benefits, Trump officials are already laying the groundwork to shift retirement security from guaranteed government payments to risky market investments.
Republican narrative
Democrats are using one little verbal slip-up to try to distract from the news that Trump's newborn accounts are going to make the next generation of Americans into millionaires. The data shows that these accounts will be a great supplement to Social Security, which was what Bessent meant to say.