XPost: soc.culture.argentina, alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   Oct. 9, 2025   
   The Trump administration moved forward on Thursday with its bailout of   
   Argentina, making a direct purchase of pesos and finalizing terms of a $20   
   billion lifeline, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.   
      
   The terms and conditions of the economic support package were not   
   announced, but Mr. Bessent said the funds would come in the form of a   
   currency swap with Argentina’s central bank. Big global investors have   
   been anxiously awaiting the details of the bailout, which critics have   
   said will benefit wealthy fund managers at a time when American farmers   
   are struggling and the U.S. government is shut down.   
      
   Officials from both countries spent the last four days racing to finalize   
   terms of the bailout ahead of high-stakes legislative elections in   
   Argentina later this month and a visit to Washington next week by   
   President Javier Milei, Argentina’s libertarian leader who is a close ally   
   of President Trump.   
      
   “Argentina faces a moment of acute illiquidity,” Mr. Bessent wrote on X.   
   “The U.S. Treasury is prepared, immediately, to take whatever exceptional   
   measures are warranted to provide stability to markets.”   
      
   The Treasury secretary added that American business leaders have told him   
   that they want to deepen ties with Argentina and that the Trump   
   administration will stand behind its Latin American ally.   
      
   But the administration’s decision to rescue Argentina’s economy is raising   
   concerns about whether the real aim is to help rich investors whose bets   
   on Argentina could falter if its economy sinks.   
      
   Those efforts have been complicated by the fact that major hedge funds,   
   including those led by friends of Mr. Bessent, stand to benefit   
   financially from an Argentina economic lifeline. Funds at investment firms   
   including BlackRock, Fidelity and Pimco are heavily invested in Argentina,   
   as are investors such as Stanley Druckenmiller and Robert Citrone, both of   
   whom worked with Mr. Bessent when he was an investor for George Soros.   
      
   The Treasury’s intervention on Thursday offered a lifeline to Argentina’s   
   financial markets, which have floundered as the country has faced a severe   
   cash crunch. Dollar-denominated bonds set to expire in 2035 rebounded to   
   levels last seen when Mr. Bessent first announced the United States would   
   be stepping in. The peso also rebounded, although currency experts worry   
   that it will soon come under pressure again without a longer-term fix for   
   the country’s financial woes.   
      
   The prospect that the Trump administration would rescue Argentina’s   
   economy and aid wealthy investors at a time when federal workers aren’t   
   getting paid amid a shutdown and struggling American farmers are awaiting   
   an economic relief package has drawn criticism from Democrats, farm   
   industry groups and others.   
      
   On Thursday, a group of eight Democratic senators introduced legislation   
   that would prevent the Treasury Department from using its Exchange   
   Stabilization Fund to shore up Argentina’s finances.   
      
   “It is inexplicable that President Trump is propping up a foreign   
   government, while he shuts down our own,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren of   
   Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the banking committee, who helped draft   
   the legislation. “Trump promised ‘America First,’ but he’s putting himself   
   and his billionaire buddies first and sticking Americans with the bill.”   
      
   The legislation is unlikely to pass, but it demonstrates the political   
   headwinds that Republicans could be facing over Argentina.   
      
   Ahead of his meeting with Luis Caputo, Argentina’s economy minister, Mr.   
   Bessent insisted last weekend that the proposed $20 billion central bank   
   swap line did not amount to a bailout of Argentina or a gift to wealthy   
   investors.   
      
   “This trope that we’re helping out wealthy Americans with interest down   
   there couldn’t be more false,” Mr. Bessent told CNBC. “What we’re doing is   
   maintaining a U.S. strategic interest in the Western Hemisphere.”   
      
   International investors have long looked at Argentina as a place to make a   
   profit, particularly related to government debt that successive leaders   
   have taken on. In many instances, investors are not the original   
   bondholders, but have bought at a discount from the nation’s original   
   lenders, and are wagering that the liens will eventually be repaid or   
   renegotiated.   
      
   That view is beginning to pay off. One Fidelity fund this summer credited   
   winnings from the country’s debt with helping compensate for losses from   
   investments in other so-called emerging market countries including   
   Venezuela and Ukraine.   
      
   In particular, wealthy Americans with close ties to Mr. Bessent stand to   
   win big.   
      
   Mr. Druckenmiller was a mentor to Mr. Bessent at Soros Fund Management.   
   The Duquesne family office, which he runs, was the second largest investor   
   in Argentina’s principal exchange-traded fund, a pool of Argentine stocks.   
      
   Mr. Citrone, the founder of Discovery Capital Management, has made Latin   
   America his biggest bet in the world, and Argentina is the fund’s biggest   
   investment in the region. Mr. Citrone has said that when he worked with   
   Mr. Bessent under Mr. Soros in 2013, he convinced them to make their now   
   famous bet against the Japanese yen and that he was responsible for most   
   of the bonus that Mr. Bessent earned.   
      
   “I kind of convinced George and Scott Bessent at the time to go big on   
   that. And, you know, Scott says I’m responsible for 75 percent of his   
   bonus at Soros, kind of jokingly, over that time,” Mr. Citrone said in an   
   interview on a podcast hosted by Goldman Sachs in May, according to the   
   transcript posted on the bank’s website.   
      
   It is unclear if Mr. Citrone played any role in convincing Mr. Bessent to   
   prop up Argentina’s currency. But two people familiar with the deal said   
   Mr. Citrone was in close contact with Mr. Bessent in the lead-up to the   
   Treasury announcement last month, arguing that if Argentina’s currency   
   crashed, so too would the political fortunes of Mr. Milei.   
      
   Image   
      
   The investor Robert Citrone, who once worked with Mr. Bessent and has bet   
   big on Latin America, may have been instrumental in lobbying to bail out   
   Argentina.Credit...Jeenah Moon/Reuters   
   Mr. Citrone told Mr. Bessent that if Mr. Milei were to lose the upcoming   
   elections, Argentina would pivot to China for more economic assistance,   
   according to one of the people familiar with the contacts. Mr. Citrone   
   also apparently told Mr. Bessent that such an outcome would mean the   
   United States could lose one of its most steadfast Latin American allies.   
      
   A Treasury Department spokesman, Elliott Hulse, did not respond to   
   requests for comment about Mr. Bessent’s conversations about Argentina   
   with Mr. Druckenmiller or Mr. Citrone. A spokesman for Mr. Citrone   
      
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