Lawrence O’Donnell went after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday Night’s The Last Word for not serving in the military since he was gay. In O'Donnell's words, Bessent was a gay outlaw from the military his eligible enlistment years therefore making him no Robert Mueller from the Vietnam War, a war O’Donnell never fought in himself.
In his monologue, the MS NOW nighttime host played a clip from Bessent's appearance on Sunday’s Meet the Press where he was in defense of President Trump against questions from host Kristen Welker.
In response to a clip where Bessent talked about the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in 2023, O’Donnell erupted on Bessent and said, “what a raving fool, what a clown.”
Last night on The Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell went after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for not serving in the military since he was gay, adding that he was no Robert Mueller. pic.twitter.com/wHksoIYQAI
— Nick (@nspin310) March 24, 2026
After giving the history of investigations of liberal heroes, Special Counsels Robert Mueller and Jack Smith, he started to question Bessent’s military knowledge and said, “needless to say, he doesn't know what he's talking about.”
O’Donnell then compared Bessent to Mueller, and stated Bessent would never be comparable to Mueller since he was gay and did not serve:
Unlike Robert Mueller, Scott Bessent never dreamed of serving in any capacity in the military and, in fact, legally would not have been allowed to serve in the military when Scott Bessent was of enlistment age. Because Scott Bessent is a gay man married to a gay man who has two children. And during Scott Benson's years of military enlistment eligibility, it was completely against the law to be gay in the United States military.
O’Donnell was correct about the "don't ask, don’t tell” policy, but it seemed odd to use it as an attack on Bessent, who might be one of the most powerful gay men in the world as he had much input over the U.S. economy.
The host then went into Mueller’s military accomplishment, as many describe the former FBI director as a war hero in Vietnam. Afterward, he connected back to bash Bessent for not knowing what it mean to serve:
Robert Mueller personally led a fire team across the fire swept area terrain to recover a mortally wounded marine, Scott Bessent has absolutely no idea what it feels like to decide to risk your life to save someone else's life. Most of us have lived safe enough lives to have no idea what that moment is like.
Imagine the outrage if conservatives attacked a gay person for non-enlistment in the military in their eligible years.
O’Donnell’s continuous derangement since the start of the Iran conflict was been very noticeable, as he has called some in the Trump family, like Barron Trump, to go serve and travel to Iran to sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s The Last Word w/ Lawrence O’Donnell
March 23. 2026
10:09:33 PM Eastern
(...)
O’DONNELL: What a raving fool, what a clown.
A couple of things. First of all, what was done to Richard Nixon by special prosecutors was much, much worse than what happened to Donald Trump.
And Robert Mueller closed his investigation of Donald Trump three years before the FBI's totally legal raid of Donald Trump's residence to retrieve classified material for which Donald Trump was charged with federal crimes by a different special prosecutor who the oblivious Scott Bessent, the lying Scott Bessent doesn't seem to know, is named Jack Smith.
While he was at it, the treasury secretary humiliated himself as a military strategist, saying, quote, “sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.” Needless to say, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Unlike Robert Mueller, Scott Bessent never dreamed of serving in any capacity in the military and, in fact, legally would not have been allowed to serve in the military when Scott Bessent was of enlistment age. Because Scott Bessent is a gay man married to a gay man who has two children. And during Scott Benson's years of military enlistment eligibility, it was completely against the law to be gay in the United States military.
Scott Bessent was an outlaw in the eyes of the American military in those days, and so he never faced the kinds of moments Robert Mueller faced in Vietnam when, as his bronze star commendation says, Robert Mueller personally led a fire team across the fire swept area terrain to recover a mortally wounded marine, Scott Bessent has absolutely no idea what it feels like to decide to risk your life to save someone else's life. Most of us have lived safe enough lives to have no idea what that moment is like.
(...)
