Make Argentina Great Again?

It's good that Donald's priorities are so clear

The chainsaw-wielding madman and the other madman

We know this, but it bears repeating: Donald’s nonsensical tariffs have wreaked havoc on the United States economy. On October 14th, Donald made another decision that has economists scratching their heads and American ranchers and farmers seething. The Washington Post reported that Donald announced a $20 billion bailout for Argentina. This uncharacteristic act of generosity is meant to help the country’s president, and close ally of Donald, Javier Milei, ahead of Argentina’s October elections. Donald openly admitted that this bailout would not directly benefit the United States, which is difficult to square with his so-called “America First” agenda.

Things only get worse from there. NBC News reports that Donald is doubling the amount being given to Argentina to $40 billion. The plan is apparently meant to stabilize the struggling Argentinian economy and bolster Milei to help keep him in power. So, in the middle of our government shutdown and our own struggling economy, Donald has decided to give $40 billion of our money to a foreign country simply because the Argentinian president likes him and is quite adept at kissing his ass. When asked about this bizarre turn of events and its potentially negative impact on American cattle ranchers, Donald said:

Argentina’s fighting for its life? Young lady, you don’t know anything about it. They’re fighting for their life. Nothing’s benefiting Argentina. They’re fighting for their life. You understand what that means? They have no money. They have no anything. They’re fighting so hard to survive. If I can help them survive in a free world, 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’re doing great. They are dying. All right, they’re dying.

The misogynistic condescension is always a nice touch, but the idea that Donald cares that Argentina is “dying” is a bridge too far. A lot of people around the world are dying because of Donald Trump’s policies. The entire budget of USAID, an agency that existed in part to feed starving children and make sure they didn’t die from preventable diseases, was less than the $40 billion being allocated to Argentina. But USAID was dismantled in the name of efficiency and children are dead because of that decision.

Donald doesn’t care if people are dying; and he doesn’t care if he causes their deaths. As I wrote in my first book, Too Much and Never Enough (2020):

If he can in anyway profit from your death, he’ll facilitate it, and then he’ll ignore the fact that you died.

Anybody who believes that America should always come first, the problems of a South American country should not be of any concern to you. But it isn’t just a handout that Donald has planned. As The New York Times reports this week, Donald also announced plans to quadruple the amount of beef the United States imports from Argentina—and he’s lowering the country’s tariff rate on the beef it exports to this country.

This decision has infuriated America’s cattle ranchers, many of whom voted for Donald at least once and in some cases three times. To do damage control, Donald has sent some of his sycophants out to defend the regime’s Argentinian policy to the public. Agricultural Secretary, Brooke Rollins tried her best to justify the unjustifiable:

Right now in America, we consume about 12 million metric tons of beef, 10 million of that we produce here in America, but the 2 million I’m talking about, we’ve been offshoring. Here’s the other thing that’s so exciting for our beef industry is that Bobby Kennedy and my partnership with Making America Healthy Again, a lot of that is going to be moving around the new dietary guidelines around a return to saturated fats and what that means for our protein industry, beef, chicken, et cetera. Poultry pork is really, really, really encouraging. So yes, 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, but as part of that 12 million metric tons, it will not be very much. Argentina is also facing a foot and mouth disease issue.

Nothing she said makes sense or answers the question. So, I’ll answer it for you. This is terrible for American cattle ranchers because there is no universe in which flooding the American market with foreign beef helps American ranchers.

Argentinians, however, are thrilled with Donald’s gifts. Miguel Schiariti, Argentina’s Meat Industry Chamber President, bragged about his country’s good fortune:

This is very good for us as an industry, as a country, especially when we have a competitor like Brazil, which has large quantities of meat. But Brazil pays 50%. That is, it’s a competitor whose competitiveness has been taken away.

Donald is meddling in the economies of foreign countries and manipulating open markets to make sure an ally who shares his worldview stays in power at the expense of a demographic the Republican Party has always claimed as its own—real Americans in their parlance. That is not being a free market guy at all. Nothing about this is good for America, especially during this time of economic uncertainty. And nothing about it is good for cattle ranchers, most of whom are outraged.

Currently, even though prices of beef in the United States are up, it’s still selling well. But that won’t be the case for long if the U.S. market is opened to more Argentinian beef imports. Michael Kelsey, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen Association had this to say about Argentina:

We import more than they import from us, and so it’s already unfair in our opinion in that sense. . . . [I]f he wants to lower the price of beef, then that’s a direct assault on ranchers because that will mean lowering the price of cattle. And so, while beef is more expensive at the retail place, [d]emand is at a 40-year high, and that’s phenomenal. We are reaping the benefits, and we don’t take that for granted.

[T]here’s some concern with Argentina about how they actually have hoof and mouth disease. They’re dealing with it. We don’t wish them ill by any stretch of the means. We just don’t want to import that disease into our country that would impact our cattle.

We’ve got a good thing going right now. Beef cattle prices are high; consumers are demanding our product. They love our product. Let’s stay the course, and we’re passing that message on to [Donald] to say, “Hey, don’t mess with the beef market right now. Let’s not have government interference.”

In other words, it’s a complex issue with a lot of moving parts and the worst person to be dealing with it—or interfering—is Donald. In response to these measured, intelligent words of dismay from ranchers, Donald’s response on his failing social media platform was the usual blend of vindictiveness and disrespect:

The cattle ranchers don’t understand that the only reason they’re doing so well for the first time in decades is because I put tariffs on cattle coming into the United States. If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years. Terrible.

The word is “terribly,” and those ranchers have just told us very clearly and succinctly that they’re currently doing very well not because of, but despite, the tariffs. Opening the American beef market up to Argentina by giving them an unfair advantage--lowering their tariffs while keeping those of other countries high—is going to put American cattle ranchers at an unfair disadvantage.

Donald later discussed the issue in the wing of the White House he has not yet gotten around to demolishing:

We’re going to do something very quickly and easily on beef to get it down. The ranchers understand that they’re so happy for what I’ve done. I saved them. I don’t think you’d have any beef in this country if I didn’t do that, so we’re very proud of that.

Despite his protestations, his market manipulation in favor of a foreign country is not going over well with other segments of the MAGA community either. The Patriotic Blonde, a right-wing account on Twitter, posted:

Eff you POTUS. I didn’t work tirelessly for two of your campaigns; vote for you three times; lose friends; lose family members; and lose business opportunities over my support for you just so you could make Argentina great again. That was not the plan I was sold.

That may not have been the plan you were sold as to the specifics. What you very much should have expected, however, is that putting an incompetent man who has proven himself to care only about empowering and enriching himself would not end well for anybody—including his supporters. Yes, I’m pretty sure that’s what you signed up for.