Scott Bessent wasn’t involved when the former president was in office. Now he is Trump’s go-to economic adviser.

Bessent, founder of the investment firm Key Square Capital Management, caught the former president’s attention last year when he publicly backed Trump as many peers in the finance world were still coalescing around Nikki Haley. Bessent, 62 years old, who is gay, decided to go all-in when he saw that the legal cases against Trump were helping, not hurting, his approval rating. He told people the phenomenon reminded him of a stock that rises despite bad news, a bullish sign for some investors. Bessent’s name has been floated for positions such as Treasury secretary should Trump recapture the White House.

The billionaire investor has known the Trump family for decades, though he didn’t become close with the former president himself until recently. He is friends with Blaine Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump’s late brother, Robert. Bessent visited Trump early this year at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, where they discussed ways Trump could convert his ideas into policy. Bessent is friends with Sen. JD Vance (R., Ohio) and was among the few on Wall Street advocating for Trump to choose Vance as his running mate. He also is friendly with John Paulson, another investor seen as a potential Treasury secretary under Trump.

Paradoxically, Bessent’s past association with Soros is a positive to Trump, who is impressed with the billions Soros has made in financial markets and sometimes asks what it was like working for Soros. Bessent hasn’t spoken with Soros in years.

Bessent regularly speaks with Trump and aims to add intellectual depth to Trump’s economic pronouncements, which can be thin on details. He has advised Trump to pursue a “3-3-3” policy: cutting the budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product by 2028, spurring GDP growth of 3% through deregulation, and producing an additional 3 million barrels of oil or its equivalent a day. Bessent, who has long been worried about the U.S.’s heavy debt, thinks the only way it can be reduced is by boosting growth, which increases tax revenues.

Trump is a fan, partly because Bessent has been willing to make public predictions about how well the U.S. economy will do if Trump wins. In a reference to so-called black swan events that unexpectedly move markets, he has called Trump an “orange swan.” He also has been outspoken about how dire he thinks the consequences will be if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election. “Kamala Harris will start with the Kamala crash in the stock market,” Bessent warned the crowd when he took the stage at Trump’s rally in North Carolina. “Then it will be the Kamala crash in the economy.”

“If you can navigate both George Soros and Donald Trump, you’re capable of managing people,” said Stanley Druckenmiller, who worked with Bessent at Soros Fund Management and is the firm’s most recognizable alum.

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