On the same day that The Failing Washington Post™ announced it was axing one-third of its staff thanks to the chronic underperformance of its bad product, it characterized President Donald Trump’s top Treasury Department’s official’s visit to Congress thusly: ” On Capitol Hill, Treasury Secretary Bessent’s testimony descends into insults and shouting matches.”
“A hearing with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent turned chaotic Wednesday as Democratic lawmakers clashed with him over fiscal policy and Trump family conflicts,” the subheadline to the article read.
And what was the cause of this? Mostly because this, like all committee hearings nowadays, are yelly-shouty matches in which the party that doesn’t control the White House berates the official appearing in front of them appointed by the White House. Don’t get me wrong, this is an issue on both sides of the aisle — but Wednesday was apparently particularly bad.
Why? Because Bessent has a sense of humor and enjoyed pushing back on Democrats looking to get donor clips. They were as successful as the Washington Post has been in recent years, alas.
No one exchange exemplified this better, however, than Massachussetts Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch berating Bessent during a monologue definitely not delivered in his inside voice — so much so, in fact, that it caused mic interference at points.
As Bessent tried to answer him while he was monologuing about trust in financial services, Lynch shot back, “No, this is my time! I haven’t asked any more questions! I haven’t asked you any more questions, sir!”
House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, noted (it must be said with a bit of a smile on his face) that it was Lynch’s time.
“I’m trying to get to my next question!” Lynch said.
Bessent, sarcastically: “Could you speak a little louder? I can’t hear you.”
‘I CAN’T HEAR YOU’: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent jokingly asks a shouting Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch to “speak a little louder” during a tense exchange on corporate investigations. pic.twitter.com/kmTQA4ieyV
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 5, 2026
“Yeah, OK,” Lynch said, then after a second: “I might.”
No, you won’t. Honestly, if Lynch had quipped “yo’ mama,” that would have been a better response.
Part of the problem is that Bessent is one of the few people who can maintain his sense of humor in a room entirely filled of people who don’t share it (or halfway filled, here).
It’s worth noting it was entirely filled with humorless globalists at Davos when Bessent absolutely dissected California Gov. Gavin Newsom as a cross between “American Psycho” yuppie killer protagonist Patrick Bateman and “Sparkle Beach Ken.”
.@SecScottBessent in Davos: “I think it’s very, very ironic that Newsom — who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ben — may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris. He’s here this week with his billionaire sugar daddy, Alex Soros.” pic.twitter.com/9BmdpaebEd
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 21, 2026
Here, as on Wednesday, the humor was in service of a bigger cause: Newsom is an empty suit who presents himself as a otter-smooth urbane problem-solver, with the slight problem that he can’t actually solve problems, particularly urban ones.
But, the other side didn’t get to donor-clip at the Davos event, whereas the Democrats did. And this wasn’t the only exchange with Lynch, the Post noted, with Lynch saying Bessent’s “answers have to be responsive if we are going to have a serious hearing.”
Bessent: “Well, the questions have to be serious.”
From the Failing Washington Post™, still wondering how this hearing descended into “shouting matches” so quickly: “After a back-and-forth over whether tariffs cause inflation or one-time price increases for consumers, California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters asked committee leaders to intervene with Bessent: ‘Can someone shut him up?’”
When even Maxine Waters wants the talking to stop, you know it’s gotten good. Kudos, Secretary Bessant.
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