The manufactured leftist panic over President-elect Trump's incipient war on gay people, or whatever, is not rooted in reality. I offered five compelling reasons why in a recent post. In case you missed it, in summary: (1) Trump was already president and he didn't unleash this sort of predicted parade of horribles, (2) there is no Obergefell comparison to Roe, (3) SCOTUS expanded LGBT rights in the Bostock case, authored by a Trump appointee, (4) same-sex marriage has also been enshrined into law on a bipartisan basis via the legislative and executive branches, and (5) Trump is on the record in support of gay marriage and has even hosted same-sex weddings at his house. I show my work, so to speak, on all of these assertions in the post linked above.
We now have another data point to consider, which should come as a relief to those who profess to be 'terrified,' but may actually be met with chagrin, because the point of a lot of this shouting is to sow fear and manipulate people for partisan reasons:
An update on the ridiculous and ignorant ‘Trump is going to strip gays of their rights’ panic — this is Trump’s new Treasury Secretary nominee: pic.twitter.com/1THHelcX1l
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) November 22, 2024
In the biography of Bessent furnished by the (popular) Trump transition team, the nominee's sexuality goes unmentioned. Trump knows about it, of course, but that's not why he was picked. Quite rightly, he was selected because of his experience, expertise and worldview:
Scott K.H. Bessent is an American Investor, Philanthropist, and Educator. He is Founder and CEO of Key Square Group. Through his family office, Bessent controls a number of diversified operating businesses in industries including Agriculture, Hospitality, Publishing, and Real Estate. He has been in the Investment Management Business for over 35 years. Born in Conway, South Carolina, Scott is a member of the French Huguenot Church of Charleston, where his family were founding members in the 1680s. Because of family economic anxiety, Scott took his first summer job at the age of nine. He attended Yale University, graduating in 1984. Scott was also an Adjunct Professor of Economic History at Yale. Bessent’s philanthropy includes Financial and Mathematic Literacy, mentoring students at Harlem Children's Zone. He and his family donated the McLeod Rehabilitation Center at the Shriner's Children's Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina. Bessent serves on the Board of Rockefeller University. Also, he is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of New York. Bessent has been involved in some the largest and most profitable trades in Hedge Fund History, including shorting the British pound and the Japanese yen, the Argentine debt reorganization, and MF Global Italian bonds liquidation.
The pick has garnered a favorable reaction among business leaders and in the markets. If confirmed, Bessent would be fifth in line for the presidency. I'll also note that in his first term, Trump elevated Ric Grenell, his Ambassador to Germany, to be acting Director of National Intelligence, a cabinet-level post. This made Grennell the first-ever openly gay member of a presidential cabinet in US history, across all administrations of both parties. When President Joe Biden picked Pete Buttigieg for Transportation Secretary in the subsequent administration, some in the media falsely described Buttigied as 'The First' in this category, erasing Grnnell. (After this error was pointed out, more qualifiers were hastily added, but "first Senate-confirmed, openly gay cabinet member" doesn't quite have the same ring to it). It's important to underscore that neither Bessent nor Grenell were tapped to check identity boxes, unlike, say, this man:
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra cannot answer why he placed unaccompanied children with sponsors whose address was a strip club.
— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) November 20, 2024
He also cannot explain why he allowed them to be pimped out by individuals with no family ties to them.
This is a sickening failure of oversight. pic.twitter.com/ozD8JBBaoB
Team Biden installed Becerra as Health Secretary, in the middle of a global health crisis, despite zero public health experience, largely because he's Hispanic. They wanted to make the cabinet "look like America," and needed someone with a certain sort of skin color and surname, so he got the gig. They were pressured to do so. It's a matter of public record. This unqualified culture warrior attorney has done a terrible job in the post, with even his own administration leaking attacks against him during his tenure. He badly mishandled another, smaller public health crisis, to boot. In any case, if Trump harbors some deep, dark desire to shred gay rights, he's certainly kept it secret, including during his entire first term. His selection of Scott Bessent, an openly gay man who is married with kids, to one of the most important and powerful positions in the world further undermines the foolish, ignorant freak-out in certain quarters.
Will those who eagerly spread fear acknowledge or celebrate this development? Don't hold your breath. For certain propagandists, whipping up sentiment is more about political power than truth or reality. But for those who may not follow politics closely, but who have nevertheless been influenced by the propaganda, this ought to come as yet another reassurance. Rationality, critical thinking, and evidence should matter a lot more than partisan hand-wringing. I'll leave you with this -- substance over identity:
Much more important than his personal life:
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) November 22, 2024
Bessent proposed a "3-3-3" economic plan aimed at 3% growth, a 3% budget deficit, and a 3-million-barrel increase in daily U.S. oil production. https://t.co/ladiWCfAXa
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