Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took a swing at liberal media network MS NOW — referring to it by its previous name, MSNBC — prompting laughs from Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) along with several others in Thursday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing.
Bessent was taking questions from the committee on the economy during President Donald Trump’s first year in office, and he made the argument that public sentiment — and consumer confidence — could easily be influenced by dishonest media narratives.
WATCH:
.@SenatorRicketts: “What more could we be doing in the Senate…to be able to help out with confidence…of consumers”@SecScottBessent: “Other than telling consumers to turn off MSNBC…it is a survey problem, where Democrats vote very low and Republicans are more realistic.” pic.twitter.com/HgwM2YULv5
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 5, 2026
Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) noted that consumer confidence did not appear to match the numbers coming from recent economic reports — and asked Bessent to identify where the disconnect might be and explain what could be done to bring people around.
“Despite all this progress, we’re seeing consumer confidence is not really rebounding the way that the economy seems to be,” Ricketts said. “In your opinion, what more can we in the Senate be doing with regard to consumer confidence and, you know, obviously, we had 40-year high inflation under the Biden administration. What more could we be doing in the Senate … to be able to help out with confidence … of consumers?”
“Other than telling consumers to turn off MSNBC,” Bessent began, prompting several loud laughs. “A large part of it is a survey problem, where Democrats vote very low and Republicans are more realistic, and then we end up — what we are seeing —”
Scott interrupted them to explain that the time had expired for Senator Ricketts and it was time to move on with the hearing.
“I appreciate your comments, believe me,” Scott said to Bessent with a chuckle.
Bessent also sparred with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who asked him during Thursday’s hearing whether he agreed with President Donald Trump about the “affordability crisis” being a “hoax.”
Bessent carefully explained — more than once — that the Trump administration’s position was not that the affordability crisis was a hoax. He argued instead that the “hoax” was a reference to Democrat efforts to spin a real crisis of their own making — during former President Joe Biden’s administration — as something brand new that was wholly created and owned by President Trump.
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