Scott Bessent Gulps His Way Through Damage Control on Social Security

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has been forced to reassure Americans that the new “Trump accounts” created by the president’s megabill are not a way to eventually privatize Social Security, even if that’s exactly how he described them hours earlier.

“It was ridiculous,” Bessent said of the uproar that ensued after he told the audience of a Breitbart event on Wednesday that the new investment accounts were a “backdoor for privatizing Social Security.”

The government-sponsored accounts have been touted by the Trump administration as a way for Americans to start building wealth from a young age, with babies born between 2025 and 2028 to each get an account with $1,000 that can then be invested. But critics have raised concerns that the move signals the administration shifting responsibility onto individuals as a way to begin stripping away the Social Security program that millions have already paid into through payroll taxes. Bessent’s comment seemed to explicitly confirm that fear Wednesday, and it was quickly seized upon by Democrats.

He tried to reframe his remarks early Thursday on CNBC by stressing that the overall goal, really, is to make all Americans rich, with the Trump accounts to serve as an “incredible supplement” to Social Security and “not a replacement.”

“What I said was, Social Security will continue as it is. It is intact,” he said.  “Everyone will get their check every month.”

President Donald Trump has repeatedly told voters he won’t touch Social Security, a politically toxic issue for voters that has traditionally tanked Republicans who dare to float the idea. But behind the scenes, some beneficiaries have already felt the impact of a gutted Social Security Administration workforce and new policies that critics say are chipping away at access to services.

Bessent, after vowing to uphold the safety net program, only raised more questions about the administration’s plans after suggesting the country might be better off if the government behaved more like a corporation.

Claiming that democratic socialists like New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani are getting more support from young voters because “people have given up on a market-based system,” he said the Trump administration had found a solution: making every newborn “a shareholder.”

“When you have a stake in the system,” he said, “you do not want to bring down the system.”