Bessent, driving force behind US push to cripple Iran’s economy, relocates over alleged threat to his life

The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has relocated from his home in the Washington area to a military base after an Iranian threat against his life, the New York Times has reported.

Bessent has spearheaded a US push to cripple Iran’s economy since the start of the Middle East war, vowing “economic asphyxiation” of the Islamic republic through a web of sanctions.

He is one of a number of senior figures in the Trump administration including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the new chief of staff, Stephen Miller, to leave their home to live on a military base or protected housing.

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[–] 42 points 1 day ago (8 children)

they're purging the military.

they're moving to the bases.

these people are not planning to leave office.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 day ago (7 children)

    Fun fact anyone on a military base can be subject to ucmj in as well as a hefty amount of usc 18 notably entering or remaining within a military base without the authority to do so.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (6 children)

    Hasn't the military completely bent over for the Trump regime so far? I know a few generals got fired, but the rank and file seem to be willing to do his biding.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 day ago (5 children)

    Not really no. Jag specifically have it out for the administration and their stooges. There's a bunch of loud mouth retirees that support the admin but the rest are simply doing as they are told most of these things have no legal test yet and have to be decided on court, failing to follow orders is a criminal act that ruins careers so most people aren't going to risk that and they'll instead leave it to jag to figure out.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    I'm on the outside looking in so I just saw the news about them going into cities and helping ICE. And I remember they wasted a bunch of water when California was having fires but maybe that was during his first presidency.

    Good to hear someone in the service is opposing them. I worry that "doing as they are told" will be the issue. Trumps plan seems to be to not care about legality and ignore court orders because no one is enforcing them. I don't know anything about how the military courts enforce this stuff vs the rest of the countries courts.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago

    There is still the major taboo in the USA about military leadership openly challenging civilian leadership. Several generals have lost their positions by trying to circumvent and criticize the President too openly, including Douglas MacArthur and Stanley McChrystal.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 day ago (5 children)

    So what is he going to do once he is no longer in the government's employ?

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  • [–] 20 points 1 day ago (4 children)

    Dude's got like a dozen houses. He'll be fine.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    I meant about the fact that a kill order might not expire once you leave the job.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago

    Eh, I can see revenge killing Hegseth after he's irrelevant, but Treasury? Better give the secretaries of education, transportation, and housing permanent secret service details, while we're creating a royal court.

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  • [–] 45 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

    Oh, after this guy stuck his fingers in Alberta separatism, I'm loving the idea of him living in fear. May he live the rest of his (very few if Iran has its way) days that way.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 day ago

    I hope the Reveille gives them fits, daily.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (4 children)

    Why? Does anybody really give a shit about this guy specifically? Or is he expecting fallout for something that hasn't been discovered yet?

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  • [–] 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    If you understand the economy, you understand how central and evil Bessent is

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  • [–] 5 points 1 day ago

    Good! Be afraid!

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  • 14 comments in c/politics@sh.itjust.works view that post
    [–] [S] 15 points 1 day ago (5 children)

    This is weird since the trump admin never tells the truth, why are they all moving to closed locations?

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  • [–] 18 points 1 day ago (4 children)

    IMHO preparing for a coup in January.

    Slightly more batshit insanely: preparing for a false flag "Iranian" attack on the US.

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    It could be, but they've lost most of their base. The magas may vote republican again, but I doubt there would be enough to go full coup.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 day ago

    6/1 was kind of like a "citizens coup".

    This time they've already purged the military of "disloyal" brass. This time, if it actually happens, will be a military coup.

    The executive is filled with sycophants and apparently has control of the military enough that it can ignore Congress.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 hours ago (1 child)

    I mean, probably. If not January 2027, then January 2029.

    But in this particular case, with this particular person, at this particular time, I imagine the failed Iranian attack on the US airbase in the UK is the proximate reason.

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  • [+] -6 points 1 day ago* (7 children)

    You would ban be for answering. Lmfao. Get ready sweetie.

    Edit: I meant that for your top level comment, but you know how thumbs work. Anyway, I’m choosing not to correct it because of lazy.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 day ago (6 children)

    I wouldn't ban you for your opinion on why they moved there. I would ban you for encouraging others to go after them. I'm thinking that it's not just Iran. These guys are shitty and evil with no loyalty and now a lot less power, they may have pissed off a lot of the wrong people.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago

    They still have the same power through much of January, unfortunately. Knowing Trump's vengefulness, I'm leaning slightly more towards the coup theory, but agree that they're unlikely to pull it off.

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  • [–] -4 points 1 day ago (4 children)
  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago (3 children)

    Sorry to burst your reality-denying bubble, but shitty humans are everywhere. Who's being the most shitty at any given moment rotates, but they're pretty universal & make up a rather large percentage of the entire world's population.

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  • [–] -1 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

    Whataboutism is changing the topic. Shit on one side doesn’t excuse shit on another. That’s lazy Democrat speak.

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  • [–] 1 point 20 hours ago (1 child)

    It's not whataboutism if I'm not redirecting away from your target, but merely expanding it to include those you deliberately left out. Your response is "lazy" thinking & obviously biased rage that's too laser focused on the target of your hatred to care about the full truth of the matter.

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