Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent opened President Trump’s Clemson rally on Wednesday with a scorecard. “President Trump’s policies are reaching the very people they were designed to serve,” Bessent told the crowd. “He signed the largest tax cuts in American history, rebalanced global trade for our great American workers, reclaimed our position as the world’s energy superpower.”
Bessent put a number on that energy comeback. “Thanks to President Trump, the United States of America now produces more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined,” he said.
He also credited the President with clearing Washington’s red tape at a historic pace. “The President delivered the greatest regulatory relief on record,” Bessent said. “For every regulation that has gone into the Federal Register, 120 have come out.”
The result, Bessent said, is a stronger workforce and a leaner government. “More Americans are working than ever before. The private sector has added over a million jobs, and the government sector has shed more than 300,000. We are right-sizing the government after the bloat of the Biden years.” Manufacturing, he added, “is roaring back at its fastest pace in years,” with countries and companies investing trillions in the United States.
Bessent had barely begun when Air Force One came in over the arena. “It is good to be back in South Carolina and it is especially good — oh, I think the President is landing!” he told the crowd, shortly before President Trump arrived to deliver his own remarks.
