Under siege: Argentina's president drops his chainsaw -Then #Trump give him $20B in credit!!

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Argentina's President Javier Milei waves next to his sister, Secretary General of the Presidency Karina Milei



Under siege: Argentina’s president drops his chainsaw

The self-proclaimed ‘first anarcho-capitalist president in world history’ faces mounting troubles

By The Week UK published yesterday

For a few months, our president was “the ‘golden boy’ of global politics”, said Agustino Fontevecchia in the Buenos Aires Times. An eccentric former TV pundit and devotee of the free market who owns five cloned dogs named after monetarist economists, Javier Milei is beloved by right-wingers for taking a “chainsaw” to government spending and regulation.

Scenting blood

Elon Musk has lauded him as a “beacon of hope”; Kemi Badenoch has held him up as the “template” for all conservative leaders. And for a while, his highly controversial economic blueprint “appeared to be working”: since his election in 2023, Argentina’s inflation has dropped from 211% to 43%, and in January, the country posted a fiscal surplus for the first time in 14 years.

But now “the first anarcho-capitalist president in world history”, as he proclaims himself to be, is “under siege”. His administration has been embroiled in an explosive corruption scandal involving his sister; and early last month, his party, Liberty Advances, suffered a shock defeat in local elections in Buenos Aires. The markets then went haywire – forcing the central bank to spend $1 billion propping up the peso. The Peronist opposition is now scenting blood.

Cue Donald Trump, said Claudio Jacquelin in La Nación (Buenos Aires). Last week his administration stepped in with a “game-changer” – $20 billion in emergency credit to get Milei through the next few months. It’s an “extraordinary” payment for what are essentially junk bonds, said The Economist. Trump is offering this lifeline solely because he doesn’t want his libertarian pal’s wild economic project to fail. Uncle Sam is now “underwriting Milei’s laboratory”...............

[hatrack]

1. It certainly couldn't have anything to do with a friend of Bessent betting on Argentine bonds . . . .

Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a $20 billion package to rescue the Argentinian economy. The risky taxpayer-financed deal, which involves trading US dollars for Argentine pesos, has little upside for ordinary Americans. Argentina is not a significant US trading partner, and its economy, long in turmoil, has little impact on the United States.

However, Bessent’s announcement had massive economic benefits for one American: billionaire hedge fund manager Rob Citrone, who has placed large bets on the future of the Argentine economy. Citrone, the co-founder of Discovery Capital Management, is also a friend and former colleague of Bessent—a fact that has not been previously reported in US media outlets. Citrone, by his own account, helped make Bessent very wealthy.

EDIT

Citrone, who is also a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is effectively betting on Milei’s right-wing economic program, which emphasizes deregulation and sharply reduced government spending. Citrone viewed “the probability of default as minuscule,” even though Argentina has defaulted on its debts many times in the past.

EDIT

When Argentina’s economy began to falter in April, it was Citrone who “intervened before Scott Bessent…to advocate for an IMF agreement with Argentina,” CE Noticias Financieras reported. Bessent subsequently played a key role in convincing the IMF to extend a separate $20 billion currency stabilization package. (That package ultimately proved insufficient to stabilize the Argentine peso.) Shortly after the IMF deal was secured, Bessent traveled to Argentina to meet with Milei and other top Argentine officials. It was an unusual choice for the Treasury Secretary’s first foreign trip. Citrone arrived in Argentina at the same time as Bessent, meeting with Milei just before Bessent. During those meetings, Bessent emphasized US support for Argentina’s economic agenda.

EDIT

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/trump-argentina-bailout-hedge-fund-billionaire-rob-citrone-scott-bessent/