- Everyone has one loyal friend they can call when they’re in a bind and their luck’s run out. For Argentina’s MAGA-loving President Javier Milei, that buddy is President Donald Trump, who scraped together $20 billion (or maybe $40 billion) to rescue the far-right leader’s economy from collapse — despite the U.S. government shutdown. The bailout paid off: Milei, the chainsaw-welding, mutton-chop sporting, libertarian eccentric, won re-election in a landslide today.
- Trump cheered. But key members of his farm-state Republican base are baffled — and pissed off. Saving Milei meant throwing U.S. money at foreign farmers and ranchers, at a moment when American soybean growers and beef producers are complaining bitterly about the competition. Outrage is building over a U.S. plan to buy 80,000 metric tons of beef from Argentina — four times the normal amount — in part to lower beef prices in grocery stores. The big MAGA beef over beef is only getting meatier.
- “Why the actual FUCK would we buy Argentinian beef?” MAGA influencer Tomi Lahrentweeted last week. “Our AMERICAN ranchers are getting crushed already by cheap shit foreign beef imports. The meat packers are already under cutting our AMERICAN producers as it is. This is an OUTRAGE.”
- But wait, it gets worse. The Trump bailout helped Argentina suspend its export tax on soybeans. China pounced, buying up 7 million metric tons of the produce… because Trump’s tariff war made American soybeans too expensive. China bought zero soybeans from the U.S. this summer and has no future orders. The result: American farmers are hurting.
- “We’re pulling money out of our retirement savings,” Wisconsin soybean farmer Phil Verges told the What A Day podcast. “That’s difficult because we’re in the years where we want to be putting more away so we can prepare for retirement. ... If I were 10 years younger, I would probably be in a situation of seriously considering stopping farming and having to find a job off the farm.”
Trump is hoping a soybean deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week will fix the damage. In plain English, he’s trying to solve the problem he created… by backing down. - Trump’s team is hailing the framework of a trade deal recently reached with Beijing. The details remain hazy. But the terms suggest China will buy more American soybeans and pause export controls on rare-earth minerals. In other words… U.S.-China trade relations look set to go right back to where they were before Trump kicked off this big dumb trade war in the first place.
- What is really going on? As always with Trump, it’s hard to be sure where the chaos stops, and the corrupt self-dealing begins. There’s speculation that Trump’s team, led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, bailed out Argentina to help wealthy fund managers — many of whom are Bessent’s friends. For instance, BlackRock, Fidelity and Pimco have major investments in Argentina. If the economy collapsed, so would their investments.
- What’s more, Trump now has Milei wrapped around his finger. “He likes flatterers and mimics, and that might be the best explanation for this bailout,” Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at the Stimson Center, told What A Day. “That said, the White House will likely now push for preferential treatment for U.S. mining companies eyeing Argentina’s lithium, copper, and uranium, and Argentina will no doubt be urged to reevaluate its relationship with China.”
Who will draw the short straw: Trump’s rich buddies, his Argentinian ally, or down-on-their-luck American farmers?
