Democrats’ argument that if Donald Trump were reelected president, he’d increase the national debt and reignite inflation are patently wrong, hedge fund manager Scott Bessent told MarketWatch Wednesday.

“I think it’s absurd,” said Bessent, speaking on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention Wednesday in Milwaukee.

Bessent — rumored to be on Trump’s short list for Treasury secretary in a potential second administration — touted how Trump’s tariff increases, tax cuts, deregulation, and enforcement of immigration laws while he was president stimulated the economy.

“We saw what happened on Trump 1.0: Inflation was 1.9%,” said Bessent, founder of Key Square Group and previously chief investment officer of the George Soros' $30 billion famliy fund, Soros Fund Management.

“It’s assuming that the tariffs are all in on day one, and they would obviously be phased in,” Bessent said. “Deregulation will cause disinflation, and I think the budget deficit will go down, not up, under President Trump.”

Earlier Wednesday, Bessent was one of the speakers at an economic policy summit hosted by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. In his remarks, Bessent — who was also an adjunct professor of economic history at Yale — reiterated his three-point plan calling for deregulation, deficit reduction, and more oil production.