Bessent slams US supporters of socialism as ‘underachievers’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described U.S. supporters of socialism Tuesday as “underachievers” who are “jealous” of others.

“When you talk about socialism here in the U.S., and when you look at the demographic of those voters, they are over-educated and under-earning,” Bessent told Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow during a live interview at the Group of 20 finance ministers’ summit in Asheville, N.C.

“These are underachievers who are jealous of those who want to go and work every day,” the secretary added.

Multiple democratic socialist candidates have won House primaries this summer, including Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez in New York and Melat Kiros in Colorado .

Many of these candidates tapped into frustrations about cost-of-living issues on the campaign trail and have argued the U.S. should not provide military funding to Israel.

In an August CBS News/YouGov survey , just 9 percent of respondents said they had a “very positive view” of socialism, and an additional 26 percent evaluated their view of the political system as “somewhat positive.”

By contrast, 46 percent of the poll’s respondents regarded capitalism positively, while 33 percent had a negative perception and 20 percent had no opinion.

Democrats were more likely to take a positive stance on socialism, as nearly 60 percent of Democratic poll participants had a very or somewhat positive view of the system — compared to just 14 percent of Republicans.

Bessent’s Tuesday remarks come amid a broader trend of Republican lawmakers, including President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), directing their criticism at progressive Democrats. Throughout this election cycle, GOP leaders have repeatedly labeled Democratic socialists and other left-leaning candidates as “communists.”