The $40 billion Argentina bailout.

Summary

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Tangle Podcast: “The $40 Billion Argentina Bailout”—Episode Summary

Podcast: Tangle
Host: Isaac Saul
Episode: The $40 billion Argentina bailout
Date: October 28, 2025

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Overview

This episode explores the controversial $40 billion U.S. bailout to Argentina amid dire economic conditions and the political rise of President Javier Milei. Host Isaac Saul breaks down perspectives from across the American political spectrum and Argentina itself, examining the rationale, criticisms, and implications of massive U.S. intervention. Saul ends with his own nuanced analysis and a staff dissent, anchoring a rich discussion on international finance, political ideology, and the limits of “America First” policy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Context: Argentina’s Crisis and Milei’s Midterm Triumph (05:41-08:51)

• Milei’s Governance: Javier Milei, an economist-turned-politician and Trump ally, won the presidency in 2023 amid hyperinflation and economic collapse. His La Libertad Avanza (“Freedom Advances”) party has doubled its congressional representation, emboldening his radical reform agenda.
• U.S. Bailout Mechanics:
  • October 9: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Basin finalizes a $20 billion currency swap with Argentina’s central bank.
  • October 15: Another $20 billion coordinated via global banks and wealth funds—totaling $40 billion—contingent on Milei’s electoral performance.
  • President Trump publicly conditions future aid on Milei’s political victories, citing, “We’re not going to let somebody get into office and squander the taxpayer money from this country. I’m not going to let it happen.” (07:41)
• Backlash at Home: Critics, including Senator Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), question sending billions abroad as the U.S. faces a government shutdown and social safety net strain.

2. What the Left is Saying (10:05-12:57)

• Fiscally Irresponsible & Politically Motivated:
  • Rep. Nydia Velázquez: “Trump’s Argentina bailout once again puts Americans last.”
  • She and others criticize Milei’s “showy slashing spree” for deepening poverty without solving Argentina’s underlying issues.
• “America First” Irony:
  • Jeet Heer argues, “Trump is not bailing out Argentina, he’s bailing out Milei. Or to be more precise, he’s bailing out the international investors who need their gamble on Argentina to pay off.” (12:38)
• Skeptical of Results:
  • The left frames U.S. intervention as a ploy to stabilize a friendly regime, not the region or economy.

3. What the Right is Saying (12:57-15:42)

• Mixed Views:
  • Some view the bailout as strategic support for anti-socialist reform in Latin America, echoing Cold War priorities.
  • Daniel McCarthy (Daily Signal):
    • “Trump is looking at the big picture in the Western Hemisphere the same way our most far sighted statesmen looked at the Cold War in Europe.” (13:39)
  • Others, like Stephen Kamen and Benedict Clemens (American Enterprise Institute), call for full dollarization instead of bailout loans: “If the Trump administration is hell-bent on handing over the cash to its political allies in Argentina, it should at least do it right by using the funds to finance full dollarization.” (14:59)
• Critiques Even Within the Right:
  • Some express concern over the bailout’s alignment with “America First” and its risk to U.S. taxpayers.

4. Argentine Perspectives (15:42-18:31)

• Trump–Milei Alliance: Unstable & Ideological:
  • Jordana Timerman (Guardian): “The goal is to shore up an ally in the US backyard and discredit opponents, especially the left-wing Peronist tendency in Argentinian politics that Trump equates with his own domestic opponents.” (16:10)
  • Warns the bailout is more “ideological finance” than sound economics.
• Voter Sentiment:
  • James Granger (Buenos Aires Times): The midterm outcome legitimizes Milei’s tough reforms, with voters choosing him “despite the hardships they have faced.”
• On Austerity:
  • While inflation is down, “austerity has choked growth and gutted subsidies…making it harder for the country’s poor to make it to the end of the month.” (16:50)

5. Isaac Saul’s Take (18:42-25:28)

On Milei’s Record

• “A lot of poor people got poorer, things got tough, and then they got better.” (18:58)
• Saul credits Milei with stabilizing hyperinflation and narrowing currency swings, noting the situation’s initial severity: “Given how catastrophic the situation was before Milei took office, it still has a long way to go to be economically stable.”
• He critiques U.S. pundits for misreading Argentina: “The misread shows how Americans just can’t talk about other countries without making it about America.” (20:46)

On Partisan Hypocrisy

• Right Wing:
  • “This move exposes some right-wing hypocrisy and undermines Trump’s America First campaign promise… US hasn’t sent this amount of money abroad to stabilize a foreign economy since we bailed out Mexico in 1995.” (22:16)
• Left Wing:
  • “A harder, more complicated take than ‘this isn’t America First’ might be…how different is this really than the kinds of economic development projects that the Biden-Harris administration championed for South American countries?” (23:04)
  • Notes silence among Democrats who usually support international development, now quick to oppose the bailout due to Milei’s politics.

On Strategic Rationale

• “A bailout of this kind won’t solve Argentina’s problems in the long term, but it could prove to stop a short-term crisis from emerging. Stability is genuinely the first step to prosperity.” (24:44)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Donald Trump: “Big win in Argentina for Javier Milei, a wonderful Trump-endorsed candidate. He’s making us all look good.” (07:55)
• Rep. Nydia Velázquez: “Like Doge, Milei’s program… became a showy slashing spree that gutted public services while doing little to fix Argentina’s deeper economic problems.” (10:26)
• Jeet Heer: “Trump is not bailing out Argentina, he’s bailing out Milei…” (12:38)
• Stephen Kamen & Benedict Clemens: “Trump should fully dollarize Argentina’s economy, replacing the peso with the dollar for all transactions and assets.” (15:15)
• Jordana Timerman: “Trump has dispensed with even that pretense. For him, foreign policy is not strategic, it’s anchored by personal loyalties.” (16:31)
• Isaac Saul: “The kind of slash-and-burn economic tightening is exactly what Argentina needed. That doesn’t mean it’s what the US needs or needed.” (22:59)

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Timestamps to Key Segments

| Time | Segment / Content | |--------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:54–03:42 | Episode intro, context, and teaser for later analysis | | 03:42–05:29 | "Quick Hits" major news: hurricane, US strikes, Amazon layoffs, Trump’s Asia tour, government shutdown | | 05:29–08:51 | Argentina: Election results, US bailout details, domestic criticism | | 10:05–12:57 | The Left’s perspective on the bailout | | 12:57–15:42 | The Right’s perspective, including intra-right disagreements | | 15:42–18:31 | Argentina’s viewpoints: local media and political response | | 18:42–25:28 | Isaac Saul’s take: Milei’s record, US motives, and nuance | | 25:37–26:38 | Staff dissent by Ari Weitzman: The scale of the bailout | | 28:17–30:40 | Listener Q&A: US policy on Armenian Genocide | | 30:40–end | Numbers of note: Congressional shifts, approval, exchange rates, and public attitudes to aid; “Have a nice day” story about an 80-year-old hiker |

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Staff Dissent (25:37–26:38)

Ari Weitzman (read by Audrey Moorhead):
Raises concern about the sheer scale of the bailout: $40 billion exceeds most US foreign aid packages (comparable to Ukraine’s first war year, the 1995 bailout for Mexico), and overshadows routine annual aid like the $3.8 billion for Israel. Asks if this level of spending is justified, given concurrent domestic crises.

“The question isn’t whether the US should be providing assistance to Argentina while it has its own issues to deal with, but whether it should be providing this much assistance right now.” —Ari Weitzman (26:30)

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

• Balanced and Skeptical: True to Tangle’s mission, the episode dissects the bailout from multiple ideological angles, questioning both practical outcomes and political motivations.
• Nuanced: Saul acknowledges both the immediate necessity for Argentine stability and the legitimate concern that such a move feels out of step with “America First” rhetoric, especially during a US government shutdown.
• Memorable Conclusion: Stabilizing Argentina may have tangible regional benefits, but the debate spotlights core questions about US priorities and the consistency of political strategies from both parties.

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This summary compiles all main themes, opposing arguments, expert insights, and the host’s uniquely balanced commentary, providing a comprehensive understanding even for those who haven’t listened to the episode.

Transcript

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This is Tangle.

[Isaac Saul]

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening and welcome to the Tangle podcast. The place you get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Sullivan. On today's episode, we're going to be talking about the Argentine election and the U.S. bailout. $40 billion. And I'm going to share some views from the right and the left. And then my take. Before we jump in though, a quick heads up. We had a podcast that came out last week that I just wanted to flag for people. In case you missed it, we got to sit down with Ethan Strauss of House of Strauss fame. Really awesome sports and culture writer whom I really appreciate chatting with. He came on the show to talk about the NBA gambling scandal and then, honestly, we just couldn't get rid of him. We joked, we kind of tried to transition to the next topic and he just said I'll stick around and chat. And we were like okay. And I'm glad he did because he's awesome and we should have had the plan to be to keep him on the show the whole time as it was. Super funny guy, really smart dude and a great addition to Camille and Arya and I's conversation. So I just want to flag it for you. It's one of my favorite episodes yet that we've put out of Suspension of the Rules. It's a couple episodes back, should be obvious which one it is. I think Ethan's name is in the title and yeah, go give it a listen. And if you want the full version of the show and you want ad free podcasts, don't forget to subscribe. All right. With that I'm going to pass it over to John and I'll be back for my take.

[John Law]

Thanks Isaac and welcome everybody. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, as of 10am Eastern, the Category 5 storm, Hurricane Melissa, had sustained wind speeds of 185 miles per hour, making it one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history. The storm is expected to make landfall in Jamaica Tuesday afternoon. Number two, the U.S. military conducted three strikes on four vessels in the Eastern Pacific, killing 14. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the boats were trafficking drugs and said that military personnel have begun search and rescue operations for one individual who survived the strikes. Number three Amazon plans to lay off 30,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, starting this week. The cuts are expected to impact divisions across the company. Number four President Donald Trump met with Japan's newest elected prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in Tokyo on the second stop of his Asia tour. The leaders signed a rare earth minerals deal and recommitted to the 15% reciprocal tariff plan between the US and Japan negotiated earlier this year. Trump is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday at number five. The government shutdown enters its 28th day on Tuesday, and groups of federal workers, including air traffic controllers, have begun to miss full paychecks for the first time since the shutdown started on Saturday. Benefit payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will stop getting delivered, and the open enrollment period for health insurance plans through the Affordable Care act will begin. President agreed to as we were discussing.

[Isaac Saul]

A 20 or even $40 billion bailout of Argentina as his buddy and Mar?

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A Lago visitor, Argentinian President Javier Milei.

[Isaac Saul]

Is struggling to stay in power.

[John Law]

On Sunday, Argentinian President Javier Milei's La Libertad Avanza, translated to Freedom Advances party, won approximately 41% of the national vote in the country's midterms, outperforming polling expectations and more than doubling its representation in the next Congress. The result gives Milei additional legislative support to uphold presidential vetoes and block impeachment efforts. It also serves as a vote of confidence in his administration, which has prioritized spending cuts and other large scale reforms. In the weeks before the election, the Trump administration also provided $40 billion in financial support to stabilize the country's currency and markets. For context, Milei won the presidency in 2023 as Argentina faced major economic challenges and hyperinflation. Originally an economist, he rose to prominence as a television pundit known for criticizing Argentina's leadership, later winning a seat in the federal government's lower house. Milei ran for president on a platform of radical change, promising to eliminate the country's central bank, dissolve many government agencies, lower taxes and roll back labor laws. In his first years in office, he succeeded in slowing inflation and shrinking the government, but Argentina continues to struggle with poverty and economic instability. Since coming to power, Milei has been an outspoken supporter and ally of President Trump. On October 9, Treasury Secretary Scott Basin announced that the United States had finalized a $20 billion currency swap framework with Argentina's central bank to help address some of its liquidity concerns. Then on October 15, Bessant said that the Trump administration was coordinating an additional $20 billion through a group of banks and sovereign wealth funds to backstop Argentina's debt. Trump conditioned the aid on La Libertat Avanza's performance in the midterms, saying we're not going to let somebody get into office and squander the taxpayer money from this country. I'm not going to let it happen. After Sunday's results, Trump congratulated Milei, writing on Truth Social Media. Big win in Argentina for Javier Milei, a wonderful Trump endorsed candidate. He's making us all look good. Milei thanked Trump for trusting the Argentine people and called the president a great friend. However, the US Bailout has drawn scrutiny from Democrats and some Republicans. On October 9, a group of Democratic senators introduced legislation to block the currency exchange, noting the transaction came amid the ongoing US Government shutdown. Separately, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican from Georgia, wrote on X americans are getting decimated with high cost of living and skyrocketing insurance costs. Tell me how it's America first to bail out a foreign country with 20 billion or even 40 billion taxpayer dollars. Secretary Bessant has maintained that the bailout will not result in US Taxpayer losses despite the peso continuing to weaken. Besant also defended the move against critics, saying it is America first because we are supporting a US Ally. Today we'll explore views from the left, right and Argentinian writers on the election and US Bailout and then Isaac's take.

[Isaac Saul]

We'll be right back after this quick break.

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[John Law]

All right, first up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left is critical of the bailout, viewing it as fiscally unwise. Many say Trump's political motivations are clear. In msnbc, Representative Nydia Velazquez, the Democrat from New York, argued Trump's Argentina bailout once again puts Americans last. With government operations paralyzed and Americans pocketbooks reeling, the White House has made the extraordinary decision to move forward with a $20 billion bailout for Argentina. Velasquez wrote, like Doge, Milei's program was built as a war on waste. But in practice, it became a showy slashing spree that gutted public services while doing little to fix Argentina's deeper economic problems. Milei's program has driven household spending on utilities up from 6% to 15%, according to a report from the University of Buenos Aires and pushed the country to the brink of a currency crisis. The situation has left many Argentines fed up with the mile political agenda, causing his party to suffer a stunning loss in Ebuenos Aires provincial election election in September. But with more potential losses looming in a pivotal Argentine midterm election, Trump decided to step in and to stop the bleeding, Velasquez said. Argentina has been burning through billions in reserves to prop up an overvalued exchange rate, a strategy that cannot last no matter how much it borrows from the United States or other institutions. The Treasury Department owes the public an explanation of what safeguards or repayment terms exist to protect US Taxpayers from laws in the nation. Jeet Heer wrote. Trump's Argentina bailout is bad for America but great for his hedge fund cronies. Far right Argentine President Javier Milei is a self described anarcho capitalist and admirer of the radical laissez faire policies of the Austrian school of economics. But his attempt to carry out these destructive ideas has plunged Argentina into turmoil, here said While untrammeled austerity might please international investors, it has provoked fury among ordinary Argentines which might manifest in the polls in national midterm election elections on Sunday. In order to defuse this anger of Argentine voters, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Besant have taken extraordinary steps to stabilize the country's currency, the peso. Trump's solicitude toward Milei reveals the true nature of America first, which has less to do with strengthening the United States than with bolstering the power of Trump's investment class allies by supporting plutocrat friendly regimes here wrote Trump is not bailing out Argentina, he's bailing out Milei. Or to be more precise, he's bailing out the international investors who need their gamble on Argentina to pay off. In addition to the line of credit set up by the United States, Argentina is the world's largest debtor to the International Monetary Fund. Alright, that is a for what the left is saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. The right is mixed on the bailout, with some calling it a prudent move in support of Trump's broader vision for Latin America. Others say the bailout is unwise, but suggest Argentina could use the money to create more stability over the long run. In the Daily Signal, Daniel McCarthy wrote about Trump's fight for the destiny of the Americas. Latin American nations like Bolivia can't flourish or become reliable friends of ours and if they revert to socialism every few election cycles. This is why Trump takes such a strong interest in the fate of Javier Milei's government in Argentina, McCarthy said. Milei is a free market reformer, indeed a drastic one, even by our standards, let alone Latin America's. His reforms have had some success, but have also engendered an electoral backlash on the left, which in turn has spooked bond markets and also weakened the peso, frightening even middle class voters. Trump has angered some libertarians here at home by arranging a $20 billion currency swap, strong dollars for weak pesos to shore up the argentine economy. Another $20 billion in aid is on the table, and Trump provoked the fury of America's beef lobby on Sunday by saying he'd increase Argentine beef exports to our country in part to keep prices down in our supermarkets, McCarthy wrote. First foreign aid, now trade that favors a foreign producer. Is Trump betraying the America first agenda by putting Latin America first? Hardly. He's looking at the big picture in the Western Hemisphere the same way our most far sighted statesman looked at the Cold War in Europe. For the American Enterprise Institute, Stephen B. Kamen and Benedict Clemens argued Trump should have used the $40 billion to dollarize Argentina. This bailout is a terrible idea. It hands over $40 billion in US public and private funds to Argentine speculators with only a meager chance of repayment for at best a short lived stabilization of Argentina's economy. But if the Trump administration is hell bent on handing over the cash to its political allies in Argentina, it should at least do it right by using the funds to finance full dollarization, Kamen and Clements wrote. Milei actually campaigned on the promise of dollarizing Argentina's economy. In the event he didn't follow through, in part because the government was broke and lacked the dollars needed to do it. Trump should fully dollarize Argentina's economy, replacing the peso with the dollar for all transactions and assets, Kamen and Clemens wrote. To be sure, Argentina would lose the ability to adjust its exchange rate, print money to finance budget deficits and conduct its own monetary policy. But those losses are, as they say, features rather than bugs. As demonstrated by Ecuador, El Salvador and Panama, inflation would fall roughly to US levels unnecessary but hardly sufficient condition for a stable and prosperous economy. Alright, that is it for what writers from the left and the right are saying. Which brings us to what Argentinian writers are saying. Some Argentinian writers see the Trump Milei alliance as fleeting. Others say Milei's victory was a resounding defeat for Argentina's opposition party. In the Guardian, Jordana Timmerman explored just how long Trump and Milei's alliance will last. Trump's bailout of Argentina is not an act of economic prudence, economists across the spectrum say. It makes no sense but of ideological finance. The goal is to shore up an ally in the US Backyard and discredit opponents, especially the left wing Peronist tendency in Argentinian politics that Trump equates with his own domestic opponents, timmerman wrote. Historically, Washington dressed up these types of ideological interventions as serving the greater good, defined in terms of U.S. interests. But Trump has dispensed with even that pretense. For him, foreign policy is not strategic, it's anchored by personal loyalties. Milei's challenge will now be to manage monetary policy. The government had been burning through reserves to maintain the peso's value. US Assistance was explicitly a stopgap. A temporary influx of dollars will not rescue a program that is failing its own electorate, temerman said. That Milei's libertarian experiment already needs rescuing, underscores its failure. Inflation has eased, but austerity has choked growth and gutted subsidies for transport, energy, health and education, making it harder for the country's poor to make it to the end of the month. In the Buenos Aires Times, James Granger said Peronism's renovation is well overdue. President Javier Milei put his chainsaw austerity approach and deregulatory reform drive to the test on Sunday. The results indicate that voters are at the least content with what they see, despite the hardships they have faced. At the very least, the results tell us that they don't want to go back to get to the future, granger wrote. Of course, it's not the first time Milei has overshot expectations. His entire political career has been this way, doubted only to overperform. Sunday night had echoes of his famous runoff triumph in late 2023, when he blew his rival Sergio Massa out of the water and ejected the Peronis from power. There's no doubt this result emboldens Milei. Improved representation in Congress will stop his opponents from blocking his reforms at every turn. He will have a stronger hand when it comes to negotiating with Argentina's powerful provincial governors, granger said. Milei managed to achieve this victory off the back of two years of punishing austerity in midterm elections, when ruling parties nearly always perform poorly. It's an astounding feat. The stage was set for the Perones to perform, but the looks on the faces of Fuerza Patria's candidates on Sunday night said, everything alright? Let's head over to Isaac for his.

[Audrey Moorhead]

Take.

[Isaac Saul]

All right, that is it for the left and the right are saying. Which brings us to my take. I want to start by revisiting what many people predicted about Milei's presidency. Before Milei was elected president, left wing economists from across the world were certain that his government would lead to economic devastation. Hundreds even signed an open letter saying the election of the radical right wing Milei would lead to social chaos. After he won, Milei promptly cut public spending by 31%, scrapped rent control, deregulated prices and relaxed currency controls. Milei warned voters that things would get worse before they got better, which is exactly what happened. A lot of poor people got poorer, things got tough, and then they got better. As Mattie Iglesias put it, Milei ran on a sizzling populist platform, but has mostly implemented run of the mill fiscal auster and free market reforms to bring down inflation, accelerate growth, solicit investment, win economic relief packages and get the economy back on track. And yes, it has worked. Or more precisely, it is working. Argentina's hyperinflation is under control and its exchange rates have narrowed. But given how catastrophic the situation was before Milei took office, it still has a long way to go to be economically stable. Thus the $40 billion in currency exchange and private financing. Plenty of middle class Argentines are still hurting, but the election results make it clear the majority of them prefer what they have now to what they had two years ago. Reading some of the takes from the left above, it seems as if none of Milei's successes over these past nearly two years has broken through. Jeet here said Milei's attempt to carry out these destructive ideas has plunged Argentina into turmoil, which is an odd talking point given Argentina was already in turmoil when Milei took office. Indeed, that is why someone as bombastic as Milei got elected. And the economic success of his policies has been so obvious that left of center pundits and economists have been eating crows since. Still, reading something like Representative Nydia Velazquez's claim that the situation has left many Argentines fed up with the Milei political agenda, just as Argentinians gave Milei the clearest thumbs up you can imagine tells you all you need to know about how well American Democrats have been reading the situation. The misread shows how Americans just can't talk about other countries without making it about America. On the left, a fear about subtly endorsing fiscal austerity in the US means denying how effective Milei's turnaround in Argentina has been. But it's not just the left's problem. On the right, Milei's early success is supposed to somehow indicate that President Donald Trump's economic policies are right on target. Of course, Argentina is a very different country with very different economic dynamics than the United States. To me, the most salient lesson to take from Argentina is that debt outpacing GDP with growing inflation can get ugly very fast. But even that comes with the caveat that our debt is serviced differently and our economy's central role in the global markets makes it much more durable. The kind of slash and burn economic tightening is exactly what Argentina needed. That doesn't mean it's what the US Needs or needed. Which all brings us to Trump's decision to provide $40 billion to stabilize Argentina's currency and markets. Most obviously, this move exposes some right wing hypocrisy and undermines Trump's America first campaign promise. The US hasn't sent this amount of money abroad to stabilize a foreign economy since we bailed out in Mexico in 1995. And it comes at a time when our government is shut down, federal workers are being furloughed, farmers and ranchers are struggling, tens of millions of people are about to lose food assistance, and millions more are on the precipice of healthcare price spikes if Congress doesn't act yet, here's the Trump administration working out a complex economic bailout of a country many Americans can't find on a map, all while Congress sits at home and the president takes off for his second global tour in the three weeks. It just doesn't feel very Trumpian or America first or really in line with much of what the administration claims its priorities are, and some people are noticing. Just as interesting to me, though, is that the reaction to this bailout exposes some hypocrisy on the left too. A harder, more complicated take than this isn't America first might be to ask something like how different is this really than the kinds of economic development projects that the Biden Harris administration championed for South American countries? Over and over again, I've heard Democrats talk about solving migration issues and global instability with investment and development abroad. Isn't a financial bailout just an expedited, slightly riskier version of that kind of support? Just theoretically, if this bailout actually helps stabilize the Argentine economy, wouldn't the same logic hold that an economically reliable Argentina is going to spur more growth and help stabilize the region, which is good for the U.S. and why wouldn't more Democrats be stepping up to support such an initiative? One answer to that question is that Trump is doing all this just to align himself with a right wing leader and against the left wing socialists of South America. That is evidently the case here, and Trump isn't exactly being shy about it. For a lot of people on the left, Milei's right wing social views are enough to make him Persona non grata. He's strictly pro life, critical of feminism and skeptical of climate change science, among other things. But that hypocrisy is much less obvious than Trump's, so it's almost a political layup for Democrats to call him out for it and oppose this bailout. That criticism is fairly easy and it plays well. This is not only a high risk and expensive bet, but it could also allow Argentinian farmers to out compete US farmers in crops like soybeans. Most pointedly, it comes at a time when the American people desperately need Trump's focus here on this shutdown and the lights flashing on our own economic dashboard. Even accepting all that, we should be careful to judge this bailout on its own terms. Putting aside the whole of Milei's worldview and even Trump's financial motivations, I'm generally optimistic about long term development projects in the Global south because I think the evidence is strong that smart investment can prevent not just undue suffering in these countries, but also economic instability and of course, migration crises that affect us. A bailout of this kind won't solve Argentina's problems in the long term, but it could prove to stop a short term crisis from emerging. Stability is genuinely the first step to prosperity. And if the goal is to bring Argentina back into the global economy as a reliable force, and if it can do so effectively, then this bailout seems as good a first step as any.

[John Law]

All right, I'm going to pass it over to Associate Editor Audrey Moorhead, who's going to be reading Managing Editor Ari Weitzman's dissent for today.

[Audrey Moorhead]

This is Audrey Moorhead. I'm here reading Managing Editor Ari Weitzman's staff dissent. Ari writes, I agree with the general contours of Isaac's take here, but I think he leaves one crucial detail unexplored. The total amount the US Just sent to Argentina. Investing in the Global south is one thing, as is structuring our support strategically, but $40 billion is a lot of money. It's about the same amount USAID sent to Ukraine in the first year of its war with Russia, and about the same amount in $2025 the US spent to bail out Mexico, arguably our most important trading partner in 1995. The contrast is even starker when you consider that critics constantly rake the government over the coals for its annual aid packages to Israel of $3.8 billion, not even 10% of what's at stake here. The question isn't whether the US should be providing assistance to Argentina while it has its own issues to deal with, but whether it should be providing this much assistance right now.

[Isaac Saul]

We'll be right back after this quick break.

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[Isaac Saul]

All right, that is it for my take. Which brings us to your questions answered. This one's from David in Jerusalem. David said, I've been fascinated for years about the Armenian genocide. It seems to me and most sensible people that it's a tragic fact, yet lots of countries won't officially acknowledge that it happened. What is the United States stance on the Armenian genocide and how do countries justify not treating this topic with the seriousness that it deserves. So In April of 2024, President Joe Biden recognized the Armenian Genocide, which departed from decades of delicate avoidance on the topic by the US Government. The term refers to a period of forced relocation and mass killing of at least 600,000 and potentially over a month million Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire under the Young Turks government during World War I. Officially, Turkey acknowledges mass atrocities, but it maintains that the killings did not constitute a deliberate genocide. While the reference is controversial, most scholars agree that this campaign did constitute a genocide. The United States did not recognize the mass killings as a genocide for decades, influenced by political pressure to maintain an alliance with with Turkey. After serving as a strategic ally to the allied powers During World War II, Turkey joined NATO in 1952. Successive administrations have kept good terms with Turkey, likely not wanting to offend its government by describing its past action as genocidal. Several governments do not recognize the genocide today, including Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Ukraine and the European Union. Now that list once again includes the United States. Shortly after his second inauguration, President Donald Trump rejected the term. For Trump, the political motivations are likely more personal. Turkey has been criticized for its domestic human rights abuses and its incursion into Syria under right wing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including by President Biden. So far in his term, Trump has reversed many of Biden's proclamations and complemented right wing leaders globally, including not just Erdogan and Milei in Argentina, but also Hungary's Viktor Orban and El Salvador's Naya Bukele. In April, Trump called himself, quote, a big fan of Erdogan. All right, that is it for your questions answered. I'm gonna send it back to John for the rest of the pod and I'll see you guys tomorrow. Have a good one. Peace.

[John Law]

Thanks Isaac. Here's your under the radar story for today folks. Approximately one year after the 2024 election, the Democratic National Committee continues to pay down debt Vice President Kamala Harris campaign In September, the DNC paid $1.6 million toward the debt, bringing its total payments to more than $20 million. While these debt payments are typically after presidential elections, the outsized cost of Harris campaign approximately $1.5 billion has limited the organization's finances as it looks to support candidates in key 2025 races. At the end of September, the DNC had one roughly $12 million in cash on hand. Axios has this story and there's a link in today's episode Description alright, next up is our numbers section. The number of seats in the Argentine Congress's lower house is 257. The number of seats in the Argentine Congress's Senate is 72. The number of lower house seats gained by President Javier Milei's La Libertad Avanza party in Sunday's midterm elections is 64. The number of Senate seats gained by LLA is 14. According to a September 2025 Anilogias poll, 32.1% of Argentinians approve of the Milei administration, while 53.7% disapprove. The approximate exchange rate of Argentine pesos to US dollars on October 9 was 1,420.5. The approximate exchange rate of Argentine Pesos to US dollars on October 15 was was 1,361.6. The approximate exchange rate of Argentine Pesos To US dollars on October 27 was 1,432.3. According to an October 2025 YouGov poll, 20% of US adults approve of the US government providing 20 to 40 billion dollars in financial assistance to help stabilize Argentina's economy, while 56% disapprove. And last but not least, our have a nice day story In August of 2024, Betty Kellenberger had knee replacement surgery. In 2025, she turned 80 years old then atop Maine's Mount Katahdin this September, she became the oldest through hiker to ever complete the roughly 2,200mile Appalachian Trail. After years of setbacks, including the death of her hiking partner, health setbacks and weather delays from Hurricane Helene, Betty was finally able to accomplish her goal and set the new record. Stay active. Start your training where you are physically. Get out, move, set a goal and work toward it. The bigger the goal, the greater the reward. Don't let society or friends and family set your limitations, kahlenberger said. The trek has the pictures, more incredible quotes and the whole story and you can check that out with a link in today's Episode description All right everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, Please go to retangle.com where you can sign up for a newsletter membership, podcast membership or a bundled membership that gets you a discount on both. We'll be right back here tomorrow. For Isaac and the rest of the crew, this is John Law signing off. Have a great day, y'. All. Peace.

[Isaac Saul]

Our Executive editor and founder is me, Isaac Sol, and our Executive producer is John Lowell. Today's episode was edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Our editorial staff is led by managing editor Ari Weitzman with Senior Editor Will K. Back and Associate Editors Hunter Casperson, Audrey Moorhead Bailey saw Lindsay Knuth and Kendall White. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. To learn more about Tangle and to sign up for a membership, please visit our [e-mail].

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