‘There’s No Cure for Stupid’: Scott Bessent Blasts Gavin Newsom for His Response to Trump’s $1.8B Fund

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ended his Thursday press conference with a succinct response to a question about California Governor Gavin Newsom (D): “There’s no cure for stupid.”

Newsom has pledged to impose a 100 percent tax on any money distributed from President Donald Trump‘s $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.

“Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we wanna tax 100 percent of those proceeds,” he announced on Wednesday. “And that’s an action the state of California can take. It’s an action we look forward to taking. ”

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice announced the fund, which was created as part of a settlement with the IRS as Trump agreed to drop his $10 billion lawsuit for his leaked tax returns. In January, the president had sued his own administration for damages stemming from those leaked returns.

The $1.776 billion payout from the fund is designed to compensate those who claim to have been targeted by former President Joe Biden‘s Justice Department and Democrats as victims of “weaponization and lawfare.”

Many critics have slammed the move as a taxpayer-backed slush fund clearly created for a target audience: Trump’s allies, with some noting that any number of people who participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could qualify. Upon taking office for his second term, Trump pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 defendants — approximately 1,500 people — and commuted the sentences of eight more.

As Bessent helmed Thursday’s White House press briefing, he took his final question, which pertained to Newsom’s 100 percent tax pledge.

“Governor Gavin Newsom has floated this idea of a 100 percent state tax on Californians who receive money from President Trump’s anti-weaponization fund. Your response to the governor’s call?” the reporter asked.

Bessent responded with a short jab at Newsom — “there’s no cure for stupid” — before walking off the stage.

Watch above via Fox News.

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