Meet the Trump Nominees Who Will 'Make America Wealthy Again'

The Trump-Vance Transition on Monday released a video highlighting the president-elect’s nominees who will “Make America Wealthy Again.”

In a statement, the transition said the nominees—Kevin Hassett for Director of the National Economic Council, Howard Lutnick for Secretary of Commerce, and Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary—have decades of experience in the business world, and track records of growing the economy and creating jobs.

“The American people gave President Trump a mandate to Make America Wealthy Again by restoring our economy to be even better than his first term,” said Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. “From Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent's experience as transformative leaders on Wall Street, to Kevin Hassett’s proven policy record from President Trump’s first term, these nominees are ready to invest in the American people. Together, they form a team of economic experts dedicated to fighting for working families and Making America Wealthy Again.”

TRANSCRIPT
Kevin Hassett:
If you look at the success, you remember we when we were pushing the tax cuts, we said that the wages would go up by $4,000? We were wrong. It actually was $6,000, it was actually $6,000. And so the policies worked.
Kevin Hassett:
First, I think about the economics of the border. You know, one way to think about it is that the CEA, we put out an estimate that opioids cost us about $500 billion in costs because of the opioid epidemic in this country. And 2016, I think, was our last year, we had an estimate.
Lou Dobbs:
-And 70,000 lives.
Kevin Hassett:
Yes, that's right, and a huge share of those are coming across the Mexican border.
Peter Doocy:
And the President Elect is telling us that Howard Lutnick, the Transition Co-Chair, who he is nominating to be the Commerce Secretary, is going to be in charge of the Trump tariffs.
Laura Ingraham:
Trump continuing to fill out his Cabinet at lightning speed, tapping Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to be Commerce Secretary. Lutnick has been a major backer of Trump and friend of his for many years, and is serving as the Co-Chair of his Transition team.
Peter Navarro:
And right now, they're hitting on all cylinders. You start with the consumer. This consumer, because unemployment is so low, wages are rising, optimism is high, this consumer is going to be the anchor of the economy in 2020 so that's number one. Number two, on the trade front, we've got five trade deals now in place, five trade deals covering trade well more than half of what we trade in the international arena – Japan, South Korea, China, Canada and Mexico. So that's going to be a boom for our exports.
Scott Jennings:
And I do think Bessent has the ability to translate MAGA, you know, to Wall Street audiences and to financial audiences, and that's a good thing. I mean, we live in a communications world. The policies are one thing, but then you have to tell people what you're doing, why you're doing it, and why it's good for the country. I mean, a lot of what happens, I think, in the financial world, is based on confidence. Do we have confidence in what the government is doing? Do we have confidence in the President and his team? This is obviously a confidence pick, and so I think it will be good. I think in the first term, Treasury was one of his most successful cabinets, set up to be another round of that in the second go around, which is vital for him, since he is an economic kind of guy.
Scott Bessent:
The Iranians – we're putting maximum pressure on the Iranians. You know, I say, Let's make America great again. Let's make Iran broke again.
Scott Bessent:
We have the potential for the Golden Age here, because if we unleash US energy independence, energy dominance, I think we have the potential here to do a massive amount of deregulation.