In January, Donald Trump opened his inaugural address by promising to “put America first” daily and usher in a new golden age for American families. Ten months in, Americans are still waiting for the golden age to arrive and reeling from Trump administration policies that have actively made their lives worse.
His administration’s signature legislation delivers the largest Medicaid cuts in U.S. history, threatening to strip coverage from 15 million people while taking food assistance from children, seniors, and people with disabilities. His erratic trade policy has worsened the cost-of-living crisis, amounting to an average $1,300 tax increase per household this year. And as the Republican shutdown drags on, essential services are halted and paychecks paused for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
Now, with government operations paralyzed and Americans’ pocketbooks reeling, the White House has made the extraordinary decision to move forward with a $20 billion bailout for Argentina. Republicans and Democrats alike are asking what, exactly, is “America First” about sending billions of U.S. dollars abroad while Americans are suffering at home. The irony is especially sharp for U.S. farmers, who have been shut out of China’s soybean market because of Trump’s trade war — just as Argentina moves in to fill that gap. While Washington props up Buenos Aires, small-farm bankruptcies here have climbed to a five-year high.
During a White House meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei last week, President Trump provided the answer. Asked how the bailout would help the U.S., he replied, “Just helping a great philosophy take over a great country.”
Even Trump knows this deal has nothing to do with helping Americans and everything to do with propping up a political ally.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called Argentina a “systemically important ally,” but its real importance to this administration is political rather than economic.
President Milei has styled himself as an ideological cousin of Trump and Elon Musk, though his campaign of extreme austerity came first. At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., this February, Milei presented Musk with a chainsaw to highlight the links between Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and Milei’s austerity campaign in Argentina. Like DOGE, Milei’s program was billed as a war on waste, but in practice, it became a showy slashing spree that gutted public services while doing little to fix Argentina’s deeper economic problems.
Milei’s program has driven household spending on utilities up from 6% to 15%, according to a report from the University of Buenos Aires, and pushed the country to the brink of a currency crisis.
This situation has left many Argentines fed up with the Milei political agenda, causing his party to suffer a stunning loss in a Buenos Aires provincial election in September. With more potential losses looming in a pivotal Argentine midterm election, Trump decided to step in to stop the bleeding. The political motive behind the bailout was made crystal clear last week when Trump said the U.S. is “not going to waste our time” if Milei’s coalition did not prevail in November.
That motivation should alarm every taxpayer. Using U.S. funds to influence a foreign election is a glaring misuse of public money. The fact that Milei’s government is embroiled in numerous alleged corruption scandals makes the bailout even more concerning.
Even the structure of the bailout raises red flags. The Treasury Department is utilizing the Exchange Stabilization Fund, or ESF, to extend a massive line of credit without any conditionality or immediate congressional oversight. Such intervention is almost without precedent. Historically, deployment of the ESF — such as for Mexico in 1995 and Asian economies in 1997 — came with clear repayment terms and transparency requirements to protect American taxpayers. The Trump administration has disclosed no such safeguards here.
This is important, as Argentina’s capacity to repay the loan is highly uncertain. Its sovereign bonds are rated below investment grade across the board. Investors consider them a speculative gamble, reflecting just how precarious Argentina’s finances have become. Meanwhile, the government has been burning through billions in reserves to prop up an overvalued exchange rate — a strategy that cannot last, no matter how much it borrows from the United States or other institutions. The Treasury Department owes the public an explanation of what safeguards or repayment terms exist to protect U.S. taxpayers from loss.
Trump’s promise to put America first has become a hollow slogan. At home, he’s dismantling the government programs that working families rely on. Abroad, he’s using taxpayer dollars on a risky bailout of a foreign government that shares his politics. If this is his idea of America first, Americans deserve far better.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
