Treasury Nominee's '3-3-3' Plan Won Trump Over

President-elect Trump's Cabinet is complete after a slew of weekend announcements. Included in this latter batch is the nomination of Scott Bessent to be Treasury secretary. Trump took his time with this pick not only because he views it as a crucial position but because it became the most hotly contested one of his new Cabinet. Coverage:

• Who is he? The 62-year-old money manager is best known for his years of work at an investment firm run by George Soros, who the Wall Street Journal notes is a "bogeyman for conservatives." What's more, he was a prominent to donor to big-name Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama earlier in his career. He would be the first openly gay Treasury secretary.

• His bet: A Reuters analysis says Bessent made perhaps "his biggest bet yet" during the campaign—on Trump. "Bessent spotted what he called an anomaly in the market: that political and market analysts were too negative on what a Trump victory would mean, according to a letter to clients in January." He predicted markets would rise if Trump won, as they have, and his Key Square Capital Management Fund has surged. Last week, Bessent told political analyst Mark Halperin that Trump is a "stock that goes up on bad news."
• 3-3-3: Bessent reached out to Trump last spring to talk policy, and the New York Times reports that he won Trump over with a "3-3-3" plan, one that would "aim for 3 percent economic growth, reduce the budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product and increase domestic oil production by 3 million barrels per day." The full story details this and his other economic views.
• The fight: Bessent was the front-runner for the post until the contest devolved into what the Journal describes as a "knife fight" when Cantor Fitzgerald Chief Executive Howard Lutnick—backed by Elon Musk—openly vied for the position. Bessent's critics played up his Soros ties and suggested he wasn't fully on board with Trump's plan to implement tariffs, but Bessent penned an op-ed at Fox News tempering those concerns. Lutnick has been chosen to be Commerce secretary.
• This helped: Trump values appearance, and Bessent is "straight out of central casting" as a Treasury secretary, notes the AP.

(More Scott Bessent stories.)