Trump’s bailout threat may have been key to Milei’s electoral triumph in Argentina

The Guardian ^ | Mon 27 Oct 2025 | Tom Phillips

[MinorityRepublican]

“The dollar always talks in the end,” Donald Trump wrote in his 1987 bestseller The Art of the Deal.

Javier Milei’s surprise triumph in Argentina’s midterm elections – after Trump bailed him out with 40bn of them – suggests there may be some truth to that assertion.

The US president had vowed to jettison his South American ally if, as widely predicted, the radical libertarian fared badly in Sunday’s make-or-break legislative vote. “If he doesn’t win, we’re gone,” Trump declared when Argentina’s shaggy-haired president visited him in Washington earlier this month to plead for economic help.

Milei’s political woes have been building in recent months, with growing public frustration over Argentina’s sluggish economy translating into market jitters and a pasting in Buenos Aires’ provincial election in September. Trump stepped in after that humiliating result, offering a $20bn (£15bn) currency swap deal and a further $20bn in support for an economy he claimed was “dying” – although the US president indicated such “generosity” would evaporate if Milei failed to win big on Sunday.

Milei’s opponents accused Trump of flagrantly meddling in Argentina’s electoral process with his explicit message to voters. Some predicted an anti-Trump backlash, similar to the one felt in neighbouring Brazil as a result of Washington’s ham-fisted attempt to force its authorities to abandon the coup trial of the former president Jair Bolsonaro.

But on Sunday night there was scant sign of voter reprisals over Trump’s intervention. If anything, some suspected the gambit might have paid off by swaying voters’ minds.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Speak not-so-softly......

[ProgressingAmerica]

Oh lookie, the drive by media talking points have gone out.

I miss Rush. I bet if he were alive he would do a montage.

“And the bailout.... it was a bailout...... bailout of Milei.... bailout.... bailout.... foreign bailout..... the trump bailout..... trump bailed him out”

It would be fun to hear for old times sake. 50 people all saying the same word. Bailout bailout bailout. This is how journalism controls our country.

[MinorityRepublican]

This is how journalism controls our country.

The MSM is not as influential as they used to be which is fortunate because Trump can reach out on TikTok and X instead.

Kamala Harris had the same 'ole canned message so she didn't do as well with the messaging in 2024.

[Dr. Sivana]

From perplexity.ai

President Trump's $20 billion package for Argentina was structured as a loan rather than a subsidy. Specifically, it took the form of a currency swap line or credit arrangement with Argentina's central bank, where the U.S. Treasury agreed to exchange dollars for pesos with the expectation that the dollars would be repaid in the future. The deal aimed to stabilize Argentina's economy ahead of important elections and was widely referred to as a bailout or emergency credit line, not a direct grant or subsidy. Thus, the assistance does not qualify as a subsidy; it is a repayable loan-like arrangement between the Treasury and the Argentine central bank.