§69 —
On America First
Democrat
$20 BILLION
The same weeks. On September 30, 2025, the minority members of the Senate Banking Committee wrote that "Chinese buyers have reportedly purchased up to 40 cargoes of soybeans from Argentina in just one week," and that China "has purchased no U.S. soybeans since May" 1. Nine days later the $20 billion line was announced; the Congressional Research Service noted at year's end that its terms "are not public" 2.
Then the condition. At a White House lunch with Argentina's president on October 14, ahead of the country's October 26 midterm: "If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina." And: "We're not going to let somebody get into office and squander the taxpayer money from this country" 3. Three months earlier the country's own foreign aid agency had been closed, folded into the State Department on July 1 4. America First, with a swap line for a foreign election.
Sources
- "Chinese buyers have reportedly purchased up to 40 cargoes of soybeans from Argentina in just one week"; China "has purchased no U.S. soybeans since May" — Senate Banking Committee minority letter, 30 September 2025 ↑
- The swap line's terms "are not public" — Congressional Research Service, R48780, 30 December 2025 ↑
- "If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina"; "We're not going to let somebody get into office and squander the taxpayer money from this country" — NBC News, 14 October 2025 ↑
- USAID officially closed on 1 July 2025 — Donor Tracker ↑
Republican
AMERICA FIRST
The promise, from the second inaugural: "During every single day of the Trump administration, I will, very simply, put America first" 1. The hardest test of it came in October 2025, when the Treasury opened a $20 billion currency swap line for Argentina through the Exchange Stabilization Fund 2.
And the defense of that test is real. In January the Treasury secretary said Argentina had "quickly and fully repaid its limited draw," calling it "making tens of millions in profit for Americans — an America First homerun deal" 3. A loan that comes back with a return is a loan the country does not lose. If the measure of America First is whether American money came home, this one did. What was happening in the same weeks is on the other side.
Sources
- "During every single day of the Trump administration, I will, very simply, put America first" — second inaugural address, transcript — PBS NewsHour, 20 January 2025 ↑
- A $20 billion swap line through the Exchange Stabilization Fund, announced 9 October 2025; its terms "are not public" — Congressional Research Service, R48780, 30 December 2025 ↑
- Argentina "quickly and fully repaid its limited draw"; "making tens of millions in profit for Americans – is an America First homerun deal" — Fortune, 9 January 2026 ↑
“I came about something else — a letter from the Senate Banking Committee, the minority side, dated the end of September last year. It says Chinese buyers "reportedly purchased up to 40 cargoes of soybeans from Argentina in just one week," and China "has purchased no U.S. soybeans since May." Then, nine days later, a twenty-billion-dollar swap line from our Treasury to Argentina's. Then at lunch at the White House: "If he loses, we are not going to be generous." Excuse me, I'm going. The week the line was opened, whose soybeans were on the boats to China?”— Lou
“"America First." Then a twenty-billion-dollar swap line for Argentina, a few days after a Senate letter said Chinese buyers had taken up to forty cargoes of Argentine soybeans in a week and no American beans since May. At a lunch with Argentina's president he said that if that party lost the election, "we are not going to be generous." The Treasury says it got paid back with a profit, and good for the Treasury. America first. Argentina, first in line.”
“America First means America goes first, and sometimes going first means extending the credit, and the credit came back with interest, so America went first twice — which, if anything, is more first than the slogan promised.”