'Opposite day': Positive press reported to be 'problematic' for key Trump official
A Trumpworld insider revealed that some in the president's orbit – and possibly Donald Trump himself – are starting to turn against treasury secretary Scott Bessent.
Axios reporter Marc Caputo told "CNN News Central" about a WWE-style, chest-to-chest shouting match between the treasury secretary and Trump's billionaire adviser Elon Musk in the White House, but he said that was less of issue in the president's inner circle than the coverage Bessent has gotten for his handling of the trade war.
"The interesting thing about Trumpworld is there's an aspect of it where everything is sort of opposite day when it comes to press coverage," said Caputo, a Florida-based reporter who has cultivated sources close to the president and his allies. "If you are a besieged official and you are being attacked and you're being criticized, like Pete Hegseth, the Department of Defense secretary, well, Donald Trump has a tendency to really sort of stick by you, rally around you and not give liberals the media, quote, unquote, a win."
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"However, if, on the other hand, you're perceived as getting too positive press, that can be problematic because others start to look at you as being a leaker or trying to eclipse what they call the boss," Caputo added, "and that can be troublesome. There have been some reports out there that have said, for instance, that Bessent, and they're true, has counseled the president not to be critical of Jerome Powell, the Fed secretary. Again, the problem with that is, is Donald Trump doesn't like to be viewed as someone who needs to be managed, someone who's being managed up, and so those, perversely can produce an opposite effect where you would think, hey, positive press is good – not always in Trumpworld."
Trump has rattled global markets with his on-again, off-again tariffs against virtually the entire world, and Caputo said other administration officials aren't entirely clear what he hopes to accomplish – but they're not standing in his way.
"Remember, the Trump White House, this one, differs from the prior one in that there's a much greater unity of mission and an acknowledgment and a factoring in of the fact that Donald Trump is the leader of this White House, leader of the nation, and that Trump is just going to do what he wants to do, and that.they sort of are always sort of reacting to him," Caputo said. "I've sometimes compared Donald Trump to a raging river, and this administration is sort of the hydroelectric dam which exists, knowing that it can't really control the river outright, it can't stop it from flowing, and what it wants to do is channel that energy into some sort of productive use."
"But once in a while, that river sort of busts its banks and goes over the top of the dam, and you wind up in sort of a more destructive situation," Caputo added. "You're sort of seeing that right now with the stock market, but even there, when you talk to the administration about, and the different players in the administration about what's the plan on tariffs, you get different answers. But by and large, they say we are here, we're committed to the president's vision and we're going to execute it."
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