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Who Speaks for Argentina? Football, Palestine, and the Politics of Representation
The Argentine national football team does not belong to Javier Milei. Nor does it belong to Benjamin Netanyahu. Argentina does not speak with one voice.
Jul 21, 2026
One day before the FIFA Men’s World Cup final between Argentina and Spain, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support for Argentina. In a video released before the match, he said: “I don’t hide that I’m a fan of Argentina. I think most Israeli citizens do. That is because President Milei has revolutionized Israel’s relationship with Argentina, and we have no greater nor better friends. Which is why we support them.”
Both media outlets known for supporting Palestinian solidarity and media outlets affiliated with or supportive of the Israeli state immediately framed the World Cup final as a proxy for the relationship between Palestine and Israel. The final turned into a symbolic contest due to the official state policies of Argentina and Spain toward Palestine and Israel. Acts of individual actors, for example, Lionel Messi’s commercial connection with Israeli companies or his visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank as part of a 2013 “Peace Tour” organized by Barcelona or Lamin Yamal’s waving of a Palestinian flag after the La Liga championship, were turned into symbols of the collective stance of a nation and became reasons enough to support or oppose a specific team in the World Cup final.
As a Bangladeshi-American who grew up in Bangladesh—a country known for its passion for Latin American football powerhouses and its split loyalties between Argentina and Brazil—I have been a fan of the Argentine men’s football team since the age of 10. I have also been in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom since I was old enough to read newspapers. I found it appalling to see the head of a genocidal state publicly endorse my favorite men’s football team and to watch Palestinian solidarity become over simplistically reduced to supporting or opposing a football team. Can we end settler-colonial violence by winning a football match?
While people have argued that symbols matter, I would urge them to consider how such symbolism ignores two important points: First, it overlooks the problem of transforming one of the world’s most celebrated sporting spectacles into a stage upon which Benjamin Netanyahu’s ethnonationalist genocidal project can be publicly performed and normalized. Second, people are not their governments. Argentina’s self-proclaimed “most Zionist president in the world” Javier Milei’s unconditional alignment with Netanyahu’s government does not reflect the fact that Argentina is also the home to a substantial and increasingly visible Palestinian solidarity movement.
To reduce Argentina to its president is to reproduce a colonial logic that erases the vibrant historical and contemporary social movements, labor struggles, Indigenous resistance, feminist and queer organizing, anti-racist and anti-fascist activism, and transnational solidarity engagements that have long shaped political life in Argentina.
Using sports as a platform for promoting geopolitical interests is not new. Sports have always been entangled with powerful states and institutions. They were exported globally as tools of European colonial expansion, serving as instruments of the so-called civilizing mission, mechanisms of control, and tactics of assimilation between the 16th and the 20th centuries. Many colonized and indigenous communities have also turned sports into powerful symbols of defiance, through which they subverted the master’s tools, beat the colonizers at their own game, and transformed stadiums and playing fields into communal spaces for practicing decolonial solidarity and organizing resistance away from colonial surveillance and policing.
Football is no exception. The imperial and colonial legacy still shapes the way football—especially the FIFA Men’s World Cup—is organized, governed, and experienced today. Concerns have been raised about the displacement of the unhoused population by local governments in US host cities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continued to arbitrarily and violently target, deport, and kill members of communities of color through paramilitary-style operations while World Cup matches were held across US cities. In Canadian and Mexican host cities, marginalized and minoritized communities expressed concerns about disruptions to water supplies, threats to land access, rising living costs, and disruptive infrastructural development.
Even though FIFA has chosen the official slogan “United as One” for the 2026 Men’s World Cup, a series of events has already demonstrated that the powerful and the powerless are not united and that the playing field is not level for everyone. US President Donald Trump has publicly intervened in FIFA’s disciplinary process, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s cozy relationship with Trump has raised serious concerns. Unusually strict travel restrictions disproportionately affected the Iranian team's World Cup experience. The 2026 FIFA World Cup has repeatedly been used and abused to exert both hard and soft neoliberal, disciplinary, and diplomatic power.
By expressing support for the Argentine men’s football team, Netanyahu also utilized the World Cup to manufacture legitimacy for the Israeli settler-colonial apartheid state that has a long history of systematically evicting, segregating, displacing, and killing Indigenous Palestinians. He has appropriated this transnational sporting spectacle as an instrument for promoting and normalizing his settler-colonial mission.
What is at stake, however, extends beyond the universalization of a violent settler-colonial regime.
Drawing on Edward Said, I would argue that Netanyahu’s embrace of Argentina illustrates how the Israeli settler-colonial project is not just about colonizing Palestinian land and annihilating the Indigenous Palestinian population. The settler-colonial project involves careful production of knowledge through a politics of representation, turning representation into a technology of discursive and political rule. Through his symbolic embrace, Netanyahu deliberately erases complexities and contradictions, propagating an oversimplified and monolithic discourse about the state of Argentina and its communities. In his representation, Argentina is no longer a society of millions negotiating overlapping and competing political traditions; it becomes merely an extension of President Javier Milei’s geopolitical loyalties.
Yet Milei does not constitute Argentina.
To reduce Argentina to its president is to reproduce a colonial logic that erases the vibrant historical and contemporary social movements, labor struggles, Indigenous resistance, feminist and queer organizing, anti-racist and anti-fascist activism, and transnational solidarity engagements that have long shaped political life in Argentina. It renders invisible the thousands of Argentines who have mobilized in solidarity with Palestinians despite President Milei’s continuing unabashed support for Israel, including members of Argentine Jewish organizations critical of Israeli state-sponsored settler-colonial violence, as well as union organizers, students, artists, and social justice activists who refuse to equate support for Palestinian liberation with hostility toward Jewish lives and communities.
For example, the Comité Argentino de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino (Argentine Solidarity Committee with the Palestinian People) organizes national demonstrations, educational events, BDS campaigns, and solidarity actions across Argentina. It ran a nationwide campaign under the slogan, “Argentina Rejects Genocide in Gaza” and mobilized a massive demonstration involving thousands of people in Buenos Aires in July 2025. A diverse collective of Argentine lawyers, doctors, educators, politicians, journalists, and activists participated in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which attempted to break the Israeli criminal blockade and carried humanitarian aid to Gaza. Judíos por Palestina (Jews for Palestine) operates in Argentina as part of the Global Jews for Palestine Network, which is known for its rejection of Zionism, Israeli apartheid, and genocidal state policies.
A 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that 55% of Argentines hold “very unfavorable” or “somewhat unfavorable” views of Israel. Only 21% view the country favorably. Argentina recognized Palestine as a “free and independent state” under former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner back in 2010—more than 13 years before Spain formally recognized the state of Palestine. The Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, who famously said, “In my heart, I am Palestinian,” was known for his vocal critiques of the settler-colonial violence of the Israeli state.
The issue is not whether a political leader may cheer for Argentina. The issue is how the imperial and settler-colonial power repeatedly attempts to equate a diplomatic alliance between Milei and Netanyahu with the political imagination of the entire population of Argentina.
The Argentine national football team does not belong to Javier Milei. Nor does it belong to Benjamin Netanyahu. Argentina does not speak with one voice. The Argentine football team belongs to generations of communities that have transformed football into an archive of collective memory—of neighborhood life, working-class identity, migration, anti-authoritarian and democratic struggles, joy, grief, and resistance. To appropriate that symbolic inheritance for the purpose of normalizing settler-colonial violence is to strip football of its decolonial legacy. No geopolitical alliance—and no World Cup final—can or should erase that legacy.
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Mass Protests Erupt in Argentina Over Milei’s Assault on Public Universities
“This government is determined to defund public education,” said one protester.
May 13, 2026
Tens of thousands of Argentines took to the streets on Tuesday to protest against cuts to public universities championed by right-wing President Javier Milei.
As reported by The Associated Press, demonstrators in Buenos Aires marched on the Plaza de Mayo toward the Casa Rosada to demand the government implement funding for public universities that was passed by Congress last year but that Milei's administration is challenging in court.
The AP reported that university professors' salaries have declined by roughly one-third since Milei came to power in 2023 due to the rising cost of living in the country, and education unions have rejected the government's proposals for marginal funding increases as woefully insufficient.
A report from DW noted that "public university budgets been slashed by 40% since 2023 when Milei took power."
Sol Muñíz, a law student at the University of Buenos Aires, told the AP that Milei's cuts to the education system aren't about saving the government money, but are part of a broader ideological project.
“It’s very clear this government is determined to defund public education,” said Muñíz. “University is a source of pride for us. It is the best thing we have.”
Student Renata Lopez said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that Milei's attacks on education reminded her of the society depicted in Ray Bradbury's classic book Fahrenheit 451, in which government agents systematically burned their citizens' books.
"Defunding education isn't something alien, it isn't dystopian," said Lopez. "It's something that's happening."
A demonstrator identified only as Marcelo, a student at the University of Quilmes, told El País that he was demonstrating to "defend our public university, which isn’t a privilege but a right of all Argentinians."
According to a report from Bloomberg earlier this month, Milei's popularity in Argentina has been sinking in recent months, as his government has been beset by corruption scandals and economic setbacks that have harmed the image he has tried to cultivate as an anti-establishment reformer.
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Boosted by Trump Extortion Threat Over US Bailout Funds, Milei Nabs Win in Argentina Midterms
"He was a big victor, and he had a lot of help from us," the president boasted.
Oct 27, 2025
President Donald Trump on Monday took credit after his political ally, Argentine President Javier Milei, scored a major victory in his country's midterm elections following Trump's decision to bail out the South American country's struggling economy.
According to BBC, Milei's La Libertad Avanza party on Sunday won 41% of the vote, helping it secure more than half of contested Senate seats and just under half of contested lower-house seats.
While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump boasted of his administration's efforts to help Milei secure a victory that will help him push through his radical right-wing austerity agenda that had previously been kept in check by opposition parties, which had overturned his vetos on laws that aimed to increase funding for state universities, people with disabilities, and children's healthcare.
"He was a big victor, and he had a lot of help from us," Trump said, referring to Milei. "He had a lot of help. I gave him an endorsement, a very strong endorsement."
Trump: "In Argentina, I want to congratulate the victor. And he had a lot of help from us." pic.twitter.com/vG3pamNuEe
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 27, 2025
The Trump administration last month initiated a $20 billion bailout for Argentina intended to stabilize the country’s currency, which has seen its value plummet to dangerous lows over the last several months. In addition, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have orchestrated another $20 billion bailout with private funds to support the nation’s beleaguered economy.
The bailouts have come as Trump has refused to use emergency funds to ensure that Americans who rely on food assistance can feed their families next month, as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is set to go unfunded due to the US government shutdown.
Trump emphasized that the bailout was entirely contingent on Milei's political success in the midterm elections, and that it would be rescinded if his party fared poorly.
"If he loses, we're not going to be generous with Argentina," Trump said earlier this month.
“If he loses, we will not be generous with Argentina.”
- Trump warns Argentina’s voters that U.S. financial backing, now at $20b and potentially rising to $40b, depends on Milei’s party’s performance in the upcoming midterm elections @atrupar pic.twitter.com/zpuiFuuYWi
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) October 16, 2025
Milei's political future appeared much more tenuous just one month ago, when his party lost Buenos Aires provincial elections in what some political observers believed were an ill omen for this month's midterms. Milei had also been rocked corruption scandals, including an alleged bribery scheme involving his sister, Karina Milei.
Matt Stoller, researcher at the American Economic Liberties Project, directly linked Trump's coercion campaign to Milei's political success.
"It turns out that Argentine voters would prefer Trump give them dollars for free than have another financial crisis," he wrote on X. "Six weeks ago, Milei lost Buenos Aires by 14%. Today he won it. I wonder what changed."
Stoller rejected a Wall Street Journal analysis claiming Argentinian voters, who are struggling with high unemployment numbers and surging prices on essentials, embraced "a free-market revolution" by voting for Milei.
"The reason for a massive swing to Milei in six weeks was Trump's offer of free dollars vs. the prospect of economic collapse," he said. "Nothing to do with free markets. A blatant lie."
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Sanders Rips Trump for Finding '$40 Billion to Bail Out Argentina' While Cutting Off Food Aid in US
"How cruel is that?" asked US Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Oct 27, 2025
US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday condemned President Donald Trump for pursuing a $40 billion bailout of Argentina while unlawfully declining to use contingency reserves to pay out federal food aid to Americans during the ongoing government shutdown.
"During the shutdown, Trump could find $40 billion to bail out Argentina and $300 million for a ballroom to host dinner parties with billionaires, but he won't tap emergency funds to prevent millions of American kids from going hungry?" Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on social media. "How cruel is that?"
Sanders' message came as Argentine voters headed to the polls in national midterm elections that delivered a major victory to far-right President Javier Milei, whose party won roughly 40% of the vote against around 32% for the opposition party.
The result is expected to insulate Milei, a close ally of Trump, from legislative veto overrides and enable him to continue pursuing economic shock therapy, which has so far included sweeping attacks on pensioners, public health, and more.
The election win is also expected to secure Trump's continued support for a $40 billion bailout package—a combination of private-sector financing and a $20 billion currency swap—for Argentina, the International Monetary Fund's largest debtor. Ahead of Sunday's elections, Trump indicated that he would have pulled support for the bailout if Milei's party had performed badly.
"If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina," Trump said of Milei. "If he wins, we're staying with him. If he doesn't, we're gone."
Rohit Chopra, former director of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement Sunday that the Trump administration's bailout package for Argentina "was explicitly designed to influence the outcome of today's election" and urged Congress to act—which is unlikely, given Republican control.
"Congress should take a vote and block further bailout funds from flowing to Argentina," said Chopra. "The Trump administration should focus on reducing the cost of living for Americans, rather than pouring billions into Argentina."
"This is perhaps the most cruel and unlawful offense the Trump administration has perpetrated yet."
The Argentine election was held days after the Trump administration announced it would not use emergency funds to continue paying out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits next month, imperiling food aid for more than 40 million Americans.
SNAP costs the federal government approximately $8 billion per month, a fraction of the $40 billion that the Trump administration has committed to Argentina.
Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, noted that the Trump administration is flouting the law by refusing to tap the emergency funds for nutrition assistance.
"The administration itself admits these reserves are available for use," said Parrott. "It could have, and should have, taken steps weeks ago to be ready to use these funds. Instead, it may choose not to use them in an effort to gain political advantage."
US Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said in a statement that "this is perhaps the most cruel and unlawful offense the Trump administration has perpetrated yet—freezing funding already enacted into law to feed hungry Americans while he shovels tens of billions of dollars out the door to Argentina and into his ballroom."
"The president, his agriculture secretary, and his budget director need to stop playing politics with Americans struggling to afford food and release the SNAP funds that Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate overwhelmingly voted to provide," they added.
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Citing 'Bleak' Agricultural Economy, GOP Lawmakers Warn Trump Against Plan to Buy Argentine Beef
One GOP senator said the plan "looks like a betrayal of America first principles."
Oct 21, 2025
President Donald Trump has upset some of his own supporters in the American heartland with his proposal to reduce the cost of beef for US consumers by importing more of it from Argentina—and now members of his own party are calling him out.
One day after US ranchers, industry associations, and farmer advocacy groups panned Trump's proposal to buy more Argentine beef, GOP lawmakers who represent farm states are warning the president that his plan will cause a backlash among the very people who helped elect him last year.
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) on Tuesday morning took to social media to give Trump a blunt message about the impact his policies are having on her state.
"Since hearing the president’s comments suggesting the US would buy beef from Argentina, I’ve been in touch with his administration and my colleagues to seek clarity and express my deep concerns," she wrote on X. "I’ve also been sounding the alarm on the bleak state of our agricultural economy and the negative impacts facing Nebraska’s agricultural industry—the economic driver of our state."
Fischer emphasized that the US produces "safe, reliable" beef that "is the one bright spot in our struggling agricultural economy" at the moment.
Fischer is far from the only Republican to raise major objections to Trump's plan, as Politico reported on Tuesday that "farm-state Republicans on Capitol Hill are privately and publicly livid" about it and have been making "a flurry of calls to Trump officials to get more clarity and warn about the fallout for farmers already reeling from the president’s broad tariffs."
One anonymous GOP senator told Politico that the Trump plan "looks like a betrayal of America first principles." Sen. Jodi Ernst (R-Iowa) had a more accommodating response, telling Politico that "we should always put America first, and I’m sure the president will be willing to work on this."
US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday appeared to downplay the amount of beef Trump wanted to import from Argentina during an interview on CNBC.
"The president has said he's in discussions with Argentina, I think we'll be hearing more about that in the next day or two," she said. "But... it will not be very much. Argentina is also facing a foot and mouth disease issue, which we at [the US Department of Agriculture] have to ensure that our livestock industry is secure... Foot and mouth is a challenge."
CNBC: Is importing beef from Argentina a possibility?
BROOKE ROLLINS: Yes, the president has said he's in discussions with Argentina. It will not be very much. Argentina is also facing a foot and mouth disease issue. pic.twitter.com/UZiUpjpMAS
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 21, 2025
Trump's comments on buying more beef from Argentina came as his administration has initiated a $20 billion bailout for Argentina intended to stabilize the country's currency, which has seen its value plummet to dangerous lows over the last several months. In addition, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have orchestrated another $20 billion in private bailout funds to backstop the nation's beleaguered economy.
Argentina President Javier Milei, a right-wing libertarian and political ally of Trump, has been lobbying the administration for economic assistance ahead of crucial midterm elections that are scheduled for October 26.
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'A Betrayal': Ranchers Slam Trump Plan to Buy Beef From Argentina With US Tax Dollars
"After crashing the soybean market and gifting Argentina our largest export buyer, he's now poised to do the same to the cattle market," said an Illinois cattle producer.
Oct 20, 2025
US ranchers and industry groups are responding critically to President Donald Trump's proposal that the United States "would buy some beef from Argentina," in a bid to "bring our beef prices down," while pursuing an up to $40 billion bailout for the South American country.
Trump made the suggestion to reporters on Air Force One Sunday, according to the Associated Press. A few days earlier, he'd said that a deal to cut the price of beef was "gonna be coming down pretty soon." The AP noted various reasons for "stubbornly high" US prices, including drought and reduced imports from Mexico.
"President Trump's plan to buy beef from Argentina is a betrayal of the American rancher," Christian Lovell, an Illinois cattle producer and senior director of programs at the organization Farm Action, said in a Monday statement. "Those of us who raise cattle have finally started to see what profit looks like after facing years of high input costs and market manipulation by the meatpacking monopoly."
"After crashing the soybean market and gifting Argentina our largest export buyer, he's now poised to do the same to the cattle market," he continued, referring to one of the impacts of Trump's tariff war. "Importing Argentinian beef would send US cattle prices plummeting—and with the meatpacking industry as consolidated as it is, consumers may not see lower beef prices either. Washington should be focused on fixing our broken cattle market, not rewarding foreign competitors."
"Trump has done more in the past month to help Argentina than he has to help the American people."
"With these actions, President Trump risks acting more like the president of Argentina than president of the United States," Lovell declared. The US leader is a key ally of the nation's actual president, Javier Milei, whose austerity agenda has created the need for a massive bailout from Washington, DC.
Farm Action's proposed fix for the US is to tackle the "structurally flawed system" with three steps: "Reinstate Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) for beef and pork, restore competitive markets by enforcing antitrust laws, and rebuild the US cow herd to achieve national self-reliance in beef production."
The group was far from alone in criticizing Trump's weekend remarks and offering alternative solutions to reduce US prices.
"We appreciate President Trump's interest in addressing the US beef market, which has been producing all-time record-high consumer beef prices," said Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA, the nation's largest cattle association, in a statement. "We urge the president to address the fundamental problems in the beef market, not just its symptom."
"The symptom is that the US has shrunk its beef cow herd to such a low level that it can no longer produce enough beef to satisfy domestic demand," he continued. "But the fundamental problem is that decades of failed trade policies have allowed cheap, undifferentiated imports to displace the domestic cow herd, driving hundreds of thousands of cattle farmers and ranchers and millions of domestic beef cows out of the domestic beef supply chain."
"In addition, the nation's beef packers and beef retailers have been allowed to concentrate to monopolistic levels, enabling them to interfere with competitive market forces," he asserted. "Attempting to lower domestic beef prices simply by inviting even more imports will both exacerbate and accelerate the ongoing dismantling of the domestic beef supply chain."
Instead of promoting US beef production, Trump now wants to establish a preferred position for Argentine beef in the US. Why, exactly? Is this what America First means?
[image or embed]
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) October 20, 2025 at 2:23 PM
National Cattlemen's Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall said that "NCBA's family farmers and ranchers have numerous concerns with importing more Argentinian beef to lower prices for consumers. This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices."
"Additionally, Argentina has a deeply unbalanced trade relationship with the US," Woodall noted. "In the past five years Argentina has sold more than $801 million of beef into the US market. By comparison, the US has sold just over $7 million worth of American beef to Argentina. Argentina also has a history of foot-and-mouth disease, which, if brought to the United States, could decimate our domestic livestock production."
Justin Tupper, president of the US Cattlemen's Association, highlighted the rising costs that ranchers are enduring.
"The cost of producing beef today is accurately represented in the consumer markets where it is sold," he said. "Ranchers are facing historic highs for feed, fuel, labor, and land—and those costs have risen far faster than beef prices on grocery shelves."
"When policymakers hint at intervention or suggest quick fixes, they can shake the market's foundation and directly impact the livelihoods of ranchers who depend on stable, transparent pricing," Tupper warned in the wake of the president's recent remarks. "Sudden price moves make it harder for independent producers to plan, invest, and keep their operations running."
"Efforts to support consumers must consider the economic realities on the ground and ensure the voices of independent ranchers lead the discussion," he added. "Market-driven prices—not mandates or panic interventions—have delivered value for generations. Let's focus on transparency, market integrity, and maintaining the conditions for sustainable rural economies."
Trump's signal that the US may buy more beef from Argentina comes as poll after poll shows that Americans—whose federal minimum wage hasn't increased in over 15 years—are stressed about the climbing costs of groceries. In addition to beef, shoppers are facing higher prices for staples such as coffee and eggs.
The Democratic National Committee also called out Trump's proposal on Monday, with Kendall Witmer, the DNC's rapid response director, charging that "Trump has done more in the past month to help Argentina than he has to help the American people, who are struggling to afford everything from rent to groceries."
"Because of Trump, farmers are on the brink of bankruptcy, and the government has been shut down for almost a month," Witmer added. "You would think that the so-called 'America First' president would be focused on reopening the government and saving millions of Americans from skyrocketing healthcare premiums—but Trump is showing his true colors. He only cares about helping himself and his friends, even at the expense of the American people. Let's be clear: MAGA now stands for Make Argentina Great Again."
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Dismissing Concerns of US Farmers, Trump Claims Argentina 'Dying' to Justify $40 Billion Bailout
"If you're the President of Argentina, Trump gives you a $20 billion bailout. If you're an American whose health care premiums are about to double? Tough luck."
Oct 20, 2025
President Donald Trump's allegiance to Argentina's right-wing government is appearing to undermine his signature claim—for those who ever believed it—that he always puts "America first" in his policymaking, as critics continue to bash the Republican leader for his outsized support for Argentina's failing economy compared to the suffering of US consumers, farmers, and workers.
Asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One on Sunday whether he was concerned about US farmers who feel a $40 billion bailout he has helped orchestrate for the beleaguered South American nation "is benefiting Argentina more than it is them," Trump was dismissive of the reporter and the question.
"Look, Argentina is fighting for its life, young lady," Trump mansplained to the female reporter. "You don't know anything about it—they're fighting for their life. Nothing's benefiting Argentina. They are fighting for their life. You understand what that means? They have no money. They have no anything. They're fighting so hard to survive."
After slashing billions in foreign aid around the world this year, cuts that experts say are costing real lives in some of the poorest nations on earth, Trump went on to claim that it was his duty to help struggling Argentina, currently governed by his far-right friend and ally, President Javier Milei, who has driven the economy into a tailspin with his chainsaw-inspired austerity.
Q: What do you have to say to farmers who feel that the deal is benefitting Argentina more than it is them?
TRUMP: Look, Argentina is fighting for its life, young lady. You don't know anything about it. You understand what that means? They are dying pic.twitter.com/1DMyaHtcTR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 20, 2025
"If I can help them survive in a free world," Trump suggested he would do just that for Argentina. "I happen to like the president of Argentina. I think he's trying to do the best he can. But don't make it sound like they are doing great. They are dying, alright? They're dying."
Trump admitted last week during a cabinet meeting that the $40 bailout is aimed at helping what he described as a "good financial philosophy" of Milei, the far-right libertarian who has slashed pension payments for retired workers, trashed regulations, and eviscerated public spending in deference to corporate and capitalist profits.
Writing for Jacobin, Branko Marcetic argued earlier this month that what it boils down to is that Trump will find funds to salvage the failed policies of Milei, but not healthcare or other needs for American workers or their families.
"In other words," wrote Marcetic, "Trump is sending billions of Americans’ dollars to a foreign country to prop up a failing president who has run his country into the ground by following Trump’s own policy preferences. If Milei fails, Trump’s own, very similar austerity program will take a major blow too.
Soybean farmers across the US have been outspoken about how much Trump's tariff policies have harmed them this year, with China—historically the largest importer of US soybeans—shutting them out, even as they scooped up Argentinian soybeans at bargain prices earlier this year after Milei cut his nation's export tax.
Trump has promised soybean farmers a bailout of their own, but that process has stalled amid the ongoing government shutdown, which Republicans in control of Congress have maintained despite furious calls that doing so puts the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans at risk of soaring premium hikes or lost coverage.
Leading the charge for Trump's policy on Argentina—including $20 billion in US taxpayer funds to stabilize the nation's currency as well as creating a separate $20 billion fund of private investments—is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has said supporting Argentina is vital to US interests and will continue.
However, underneath the administration's support for Argentina lurks the presence of high-profile US investors, some of them closely connected to members of the administration, including Bessent allies and Wall Street players who have backed Trump.
Popular Information's Judd Legum has reported extensively on the financial interests benefiting most from the bailout scheme— and it's not US farmers or consumers. As Legum noted last week:
While farmers struggle to survive and the federal government is shut down, Milei is riding high thanks to the cash infusion from the Trump administration. “There will be an avalanche of dollars,” Milei said in a radio interview shortly before traveling to the White House. “We’ll have dollars pouring out of our ears.”
Speaking with The New Yorker's John Cassidy, former IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld explained that one "worrisome" dynamic when it comes to the Argentina bailout is that Bessent is repeatedly saying we will be there for the long term and we will do whatever it takes. He is effectively saying to foreign investors, ‘You will be able to get out whole.’”
As $20 billion has quickly morphed into $40 billion in financial backing of the flailing economy led by the slash-and-burn ideology of Milei, Trump said the US government is also considering buying up beef exports in an effort to control the price for US producers.
“We would buy some beef from Argentina,” he told reporters aboard the Sunday flight on Air Force. “If we do that, that will bring our beef prices down.”
However, with the government shutdown ongoing and Republicans refusing to budge on Democratic demands that healthcare costs be contained, there's no end in sight for relief when it comes to American families facing massive spikes in monthly premiums or loss of health coverage completely.
As Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) noted last week: "If you're the President of Argentina, Trump gives you a $20 billion bailout. If you're an American whose health care premiums are about to double? Tough luck."
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'A Man-Made Crisis Caused by Trump': US Soy Farmers Reeling Amid MAGA Trade War
"The frustration is overwhelming," said the president of the American Soybean Association.
Oct 16, 2025
US soybean farmers are growing increasingly frustrated as their sales to China have cratered thanks to President Donald Trump's trade war.
As Politico reported on Thursday, farmers throughout the country are saying they desperately need financial assistance to stay afloat after China has stopped buying their crops all together in retaliation for Trump's tariffs.
While the president has promised a bailout of some kind for US farmers, experts who spoke with Politico said that it would likely take months to get money out to farmers who are in the most need. On top of that, experts say that farmers need financial relief as soon as possible so they are able to plan for next year's planting season.
“Farmers are hurting financially,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) told Politico. “They’re very troubled, there’s some expectation for help. Emotionally, it would be great for something to happen soon. But financially, they need to be able to go to their bankers and say that help is on the way.”
The farmers themselves have also not been shy about expressing their displeasure to journalists.
In a Wednesday interview with CNN, Illinois soybean farmer John Bartman said he was angry with how Trump's trade war has impacted his farm, which he noted typically sells its crops overseas.
"There's no reason for it!" he said of Trump's trade war. "This is absolute stupidity. This is a man-made crisis caused by Donald Trump."
Maryland soybean farmer David Burrier told NBC Washington in an interview published on Tuesday that he was not thrilled with the idea of getting a bailout from the federal government and instead simply wanted to be able to sell his crops to willing buyers again.
“Unless we have a trade deal... what happens next year if we don’t have a trade deal?” Burrier asked. “Do we get another welfare check? C’mon guys. Let’s pay attention to where we’re at and what's going on.”
“This is not a problem we can kick down the road; this is a problem here and now," he added.
Farmers have also expressed irritation that Trump's administration is rushing through with a bailout package for the financially troubled government of Argentinian President Javier Milei whose value could top $40 billion.
Meanwhile, China has massively stepped up its soybean purchases from Argentina even as it refuses to buy any from US farmers.
“The frustration is overwhelming,” Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, told Politico. “US soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the US government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.”
Fox Business host Stuart Varney referenced this sense of frustration during a Thursday interview with US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, asking her what she'd say to farmers upset that the government is bailing out one of their major competitors in the global soybean market.
"Well, I understand the frustration from farm country," Rollins began. "But what I will say is this: The president's focus remains 100% on America first, on ensuring he has the farmers' of America's backs."
She then said that the Argentina bailout was necessary "for the sake of world peace and world stability."
FOX: “Some farmers worry the Argentina bailout is prioritizing Milei over 🇺🇸 farmers.”
Ag @SecRollins: “That’s out of my lane” 🤔
She then says a bailout (that won’t make them whole) is coming and vomits out word salad about how much he cares about them.
Imagine buying this. pic.twitter.com/EOFmxsiMeI
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 16, 2025
As Axios reported on Wednesday, Trump's decision to help Argentina while US farmers are struggling has sparked angst among some Republican lawamakers who represent rural states and areas, with Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) saying the president's "America First" brand was "damaged" by the bailout.
Some of them pressed US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during a lunch this week about when farmers could expect an aid package.
Regardless, Axios wrote, the Republicans offered “tepid, general support” for Trump as he came to Argentina’s rescue.
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'So Much for America First': Trump Admin Says Argentina Bailout Doubling to $40 Billion
"Yet, they never have the funds for healthcare coverage for all," said Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
Oct 15, 2025
Reality once again clashed uncomfortably with Argentinian President Javier Milei's so-called "libertarian revolution" Wednesday as the Trump administration said it is working to double a $20 billion private sector bailout to prop up the South American nation's moribund currency amid enduring high poverty and inflation and broader economic fragility.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters in Washington, DC Wednesday that the $20 billion currency swap—essentially a loan—for Argentina announced last month "would be a total of $40 billion," with funding coming from banks and sovereign wealth funds to enable the country to pay off its more than $300 billion in external debt.
The bailout is aimed at boosting Argentina's flagging peso, which has fallen by nearly one-quarter against the US dollar this year. A decade ago, $1 was equal to 18 pesos. Today, a single dollar will buy 1,361 pesos. That's a loss of more than 99% in value over the past 10 years.
The Argentine peso has lost more than 99% of its value against the US dollar over the past decade. (Image by xe)
Although poverty in Argentina has fallen significantly from over 50% shortly after Milei's election, around 30% of Argentinians remain poor and prices and inflation are again rising significantly. While Milei has drastically slashed inflation, the reduction has come via the devaluation of the peso and massive cuts in government spending, including the evisceration of social programs resulting in more expensive housing, healthcare, and education.
Bessent's announcement comes ahead of Argentina's October 26 midterm elections that will test the mandate for Milei—an admirer and close ally of President Donald Trump—to continue with his slash-and-burn approach to streamlining government.
While meeting with Milei at the White House Tuesday, Trump said the bailout is contingent upon the Argentine president remaining in power.
“If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” Trump told reporters. “I think he’s going to win, and if he wins, we’re staying with him, and if he doesn’t win, we’re gone.”
The combination of fiscal austerity, gutting of government agencies, dangerous deregulation, inflation, and currency devaluation have caused Milei's unfavorability rating to soar to over 60% in some polls, it's highest level ever.
Milei—a self-described anarcho-capitalist who was elected in November 2023 on a wave of populist revulsion at the status quo—campaigned on a platform of repairing the moribund economy, tackling inflation, reducing poverty, and dismantling the state. He made wild promises including dollarizing Argentina’s economy and abolishing the central bank.
However, the realities of leading South America’s second-largest economy have forced Milei’s administration to abandon or significantly curtail key agenda items, leading to accusations of neoliberalism and betrayal from the right, and hypocrisy and rank incompetence from the left.
“Let’s not get confused: Milei went to beg for money and a photo of Trump because his economic plan failed," Argentine lawmaker Emilio Monzó said Tuesday.
Another lawmaker, Margarita Stolbizer, said on social media Tuesday that "freedom is crawling."
"Trump tells us Argentines that if we don't vote for Milei, we'll be punished," she added. "The interference is absolute, the libertarian surrender is total. Let's have confidence in the pride of our people: We are millions who don't want to be told what we have to do."
US singer and political commentator Blakeley Bartley skewered Milei, "the based anarcho-capitalist conservative," in a social media post on Wednesday."
"He was gonna get in power, cut government spending," Bartley continued. "Remember, all your favorite right-wingers and American media said, 'You gotta support him, man, he's a based conservative that's gonna save Argentina."
"What's that?" Bartley added. "Oh, that's right, he drove the economy into the fucking ground and now he needs a welfare check from Daddy America."
Others—ranging from progressives angry over tens of billions of dollars being spent on foreign bailouts while so many people are struggling and suffering in the US to hardcore MAGA supporters—are asking, how is bailing out Argentina "America First?"
"Trump wants to DOUBLE Argentina's bailout to $40 billion to save his political ally," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on social media. "Yet he is doing nothing to prevent 15 million Americans from losing their healthcare and 20 million from seeing a doubling in their premiums. Is this what Trump means by America first?"
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said: "Apparently $20 billion of our taxpayer money wasn't enough to bail out Argentina. Now Trump wants US banks to divert ANOTHER $20 billion away from lending to American businesses, farmers, and families to prop up Milei's corrupt presidency and failing economy."
Former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich said, "So much for 'America First.'"
John Bartam, a soybean farmer from Illinois, slammed the bailout in a Tuesday interview with the Daily Beast, noting that Trump’s $20 billion lifeline enabled Milei to lower his country's export tax, leading to China buying seven million tons of Argentinian soybeans at the expense of the US. This, as American soybean farmers reel from Trump's tariff war with China, which until recently was the world's leading buyer of the top US export crop.
“MAGA," Bartam said, "now means Make Argentina Great Again."
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American Soybean Farmers Sold Out by Trump While Argentina Gets Bailed Out
"The farm economy is suffering," says the head of the American Soybean Association, "while our competitors supplant the United States in the biggest soybean import market in the world.”
Oct 14, 2025
Trade policy isn’t sexy, but it is weighty, economically speaking. Jobs and wage-income are at-stake. Take President Trump’s trade policy, notably his fondness for tariffs, a tax on US imports that businesses and workers pay.
We begin with the Trump administration’s decision to provide a $20 billion “swap line” (currency exchanges between central banks) with the government of Argentina. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the point man for the White House on this financial and political issue. Behind Bessent is a Wall Street hedge fund manager, Rob Citrone, a major foreign investor in Argentina, CNN reported.
The Latin American country is in financial distress over its issuance of foreign bonds since President Javier Milei slashed public spending to spur economic growth. Such economic policy goes by the name of austerity.
However, Milei’s so-called pro-growth approach has had the opposite effect. Hunger and poverty among the Argentine working class are up. Workers’ household income is down.
“Argentina’s poverty rate has soared to almost 53% in the first six months of Javier Milei’s presidency,” reports The Guardian, “offering the first hard evidence of how the far-right libertarian’s tough austerity measures are hitting the population.”
What in part preceded such measures slamming the Argentine people was inflation, a general rise in prices.
In the meantime, the Milei government cut the export tax on soybeans. Chinese buyers jumped at this opportunity, reportedly purchasing some 20 shiploads of soybeans from Argentina.
That tax holiday cut revenue to the Argentine government, and created the trade conditions for lower export prices for foreign buyers. That arrangement didn’t fix the tax revenue problem for the Argentine government, however.
Meanwhile, American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland shared this statement on some impacts of Trump’s trade policy of tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies:
US soybean farmers have been clear for months: the administration needs to secure a trade deal with China. China is the world’s largest soybean customer and typically our top export market. The US has made zero sales to China in this new crop marketing year due to 20% retaliatory tariffs imposed by China in response to US tariffs. This has allowed other exporters, Brazil and now Argentina, to capture our market at the direct expense of US farmers.
According to Politico, the use of tariffs in China-US trade is having far-reaching effects on American agriculture generally. “The 20 percent retaliatory tariff that Beijing has imposed on US imports hasn’t just pounded soybean producers. All agriculture exports to China were down 53 percent in the first seven months of 2025, compared with the same period last year, according to USDA data.”
Ragland, head of the ASA, continues his criticism of Trump’s trade policy on American soybean farmers. “The frustration is overwhelming. US soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the US government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.
“ASA is calling on President Trump and his negotiating team to prioritize securing an immediate deal on soybeans with China. The farm economy is suffering while our competitors supplant the United States in the biggest soybean import market in the world.”
What will the White House do to relieve the pain from the decline of demand from China for American agricultural products? Well, the president is considering a $10-$15 billion bailout for agriculture commodity producers.
Wait. There is a federal government shutdown. In other words, the allocation and distribution of a federal bailout for farmers experiencing a shortage of buyers from China will have to wait for the government shutdown to end. Your guess is as good as mine when that happens.
Such contradictions of economics and politics drive history, according to Marx. The federal government shutdown over health care spending while US Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops deploy on the streets of American cities for reason of so-called public safety are two cases in point. Trade policy that harms domestic agriculture generally and soybean growers particularly is another.
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