It was quite the Sunday showdown on ABC’s “This Week.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent decided to remind George Stephanopoulos, the network’s anchor and former Clinton advisor, of something he probably hoped everyone had forgotten — that he once called Republicans “terrorists” during the 1995 government shutdown. Yes, the same George who now sits comfortably behind a news desk pretending to be an objective journalist.
When Stephanopoulos tried to grill Bessent about how the Trump administration planned to end the current shutdown, Bessent didn’t miss a beat. “Look, you were involved in a lot of these in the ’90s,” he said. “You basically called Republicans terrorists and said they weren’t the responsible party keeping the government closed. What we need are five brave, moderate Democrats to cross the aisle and reopen the government.” A perfectly reasonable point — though reason isn’t exactly in abundance among today’s Democrats.
Stephanopoulos, clearly uncomfortable, responded, “I can disagree with you about the history there, but we don’t have a history lesson right now.” Of course he didn’t want a history lesson — the facts are never kind to his side. But Bessent wasn’t letting it go: “No, George, George, George. I’ve got all your quotes right here.” Ouch.
Back in 2000, in a PBS interview, Stephanopoulos openly admitted that the Democrats’ 1995 shutdown strategy was to paint Republicans as villains — claiming they were “blackmailing the country” and even calling them “terrorists.” His own words: “We had to say that they were blackmailing the country… and we were trying to say that they were basically terrorists. And it worked.” Imagine that — honesty from a Democrat, though only years later and when it no longer mattered.
So here we are again, decades later, watching the same political theater. Democrats still blaming Republicans, the media still pretending to be neutral, and people like Stephanopoulos still hoping no one remembers their own words. Fortunately, Scott Bessent does — and he made sure George remembered too.
In the end, it’s refreshing to see someone finally stand up and push back against the revisionist history that’s become so common in Washington. The truth has a funny way of coming back around, and this time, it came with receipts.
