Don't Cry For Argentina

Several months ago, Ian Bremmer, the host of PBS's "GZero World," a political talk show, hosted Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, to discuss his radical economic policies that were meant to give a shock to the system.  Milei had every reason to feel good about himself, as when Bremmer talked to him via satellite, the Argentine economy was improving tremendously and his policies of making deep cuts in government services - hence his offering of a chain saw to Elon Musk at the 2025 National Conservative Political Action Conference  - deregulation, and a minarchical approach to business seemed to be working.

The economic recovery from 200 percent inflation when Milei took office in 2023 was short-lived, though, and now the Argentine economy is an freefall.  Trump ans Scott Bessent, his Treasury Secretary, pledged $20 billion to bail out Argentina.  They have since doubled that pledge with private donations from many of America's plutocrats.  And I'm sure Trump would be doing this even if Bessent didn't hve friends with financial interest in Argentina.

Argentina is getting this $40 billion bailout even as Milei has come upon a little geopolitical luck.  Thanks to Trump's tariff war with China, Argentina has inked a deal with the Chinese to sell them soybeans - a commodity that American farmers had a monopoly over with the Chinese before Trump intervened.  This adds insult to injury, as the government remains shut down and the expired Affordable Care Act subsidies are not reinstated, and taxpayer money is being sent to Argentina - and not to Americans who need help, especially American soybean farmers who just lost their livelihoods to Argentine soybean farmers.  

Maybe American soybean farmers - many if not most of whom voted for Trump - should take Michael Dukakis's 37-year-old advice and plant Belgian endives.

One U.S. House member has become an ardent critic of Trump's Argentina policy, decrying the fact that billions of dollars are being funneled all the way down to Tierra del Fuego and not being spent to aid Americans with medical insurance made possible by the Affordable Care Act.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?  Pramila Jayapal?  Jim McGovern?  My own congresswoman,  New Jersey's Mikie Sherrill, who needs every issue she can to fend off a tough gubernatorial election opponent like Jack Ciattarelli (and so far seems to be holding him off enough to win the governorship of New Jersey)? No - Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Marjorie . . . Taylor . . . Greene.

Dude, when Trump has lost Marjorie Taylor Greene, he's lost MAGA, which may as well now stand for "Make Argentina Great Again."

And if Trump is forced to go into exile as a result of today's No Kings protests and any No Kings protests to come in 2026, I'm sure he will be welcome in Buenos Aires - like other Nazi war criminals.

I haven't watched Ian Bremmer's PBS show since Trump returned to power.  I haven't really felt like watching it.  I probably won't start watching it again.  Trump may hve lost Marjorie Taylor Greene, but Bremmer, having hosted and toasted Javier Milei, has lost his credibility.

Argentina On Top

The Argentine men's team won the World Cup soccer tournament this past week, becoming world champions for the first time in 36 years.  And their star player Lionel Messi - now widely celebrated as the greatest soccer player ever - is only 35 years old.

Messi plans to retire soon, so now he can go out on a high having finally won a World Cup in his career.  The final was pretty intense - Argentina led France by 2-0 for a good deal of the game, then France tied it within ten minutes.  Argentina scored a third goal late in the second half only for France to tie it again.  It finally came down to a penalty-kick shootout, and Argentina pulled out a victory thanks to Messi's prowess.

It was a thrilling game and an entering tournament, The United States played well enough to actually raise hopes for improvement by 2026 when the U.S., Canada and Mexico host the World Cup.   Croatia and Morocco turned out to be  tough teams to be reckoned with.  And the Netherlands, having played in Cup finals but having never having won - they're the Buffalo Bills of international soccer - didn't even make the semifinals this year.  But who cares about the Dutch?  I've said it before on this blog, and I'll say it again: Apart from founding New York City, giving the world Rembrandt and Van Gogh, cultivating tulips, building levees and dikes that don't collapse, perfecting wind energy, and reclaiming land from the sea, what have the Dutch really done for Western civilization? 😃

Blow It Like Beckham

England fell in the World Cup round of sixteen early today, losing to Germany, which has made it to every World Cup quarterfinal beginning in 1954, which, as any who saw The Marriage of Maria Braun knows, was their first tournament victory.

As for England . . . hmmph. Being an English soccer fan is the equivalent of being a baseball fan who roots for the Mets. You always hope for your team to repeat a miracle victory that happened decades ago, but you know in your heart of hearts that it's not . . . gonna . . . happen. Actually, that's an unfair comparison. The Mets at least won the World Series twice.

England scored a goal in the game that replays showed was clearly over the goal line and would have tied the game at two apiece but the German goalkeeper grabbed it and threw it back, and the goal was never counted as a point. The English protested, but the result stood. It was an ironic reversal of a German score in the 1966 championship game that gave England the victory.

In other news, Argentina eliminated Mexico three to one. Not exactly the most elegant game. Gee whiz, the Mexican players were hurling themselves into their own net while unsuccessfully trying to stop the Argentines from doing the same with the ball.

Germany and Argentina now meet each other on Saturday.

He Wines and Dines With Argentines

I can't keep up with this story.

Not only was South Carolina Mark Sanford in Argentina instead of hiking in the Appalachians, he was having an affair with a woman in Buenos Aires.

He even wrote steamy love letters to his mistress with the kind of European-style erotic prose normally unassociated with politicians from the American South. He may even know how to tango.

Trouble is, he might have traveled there on the taxpayers' expense.

And he was away on Father's Day, despite the fact that he has four sons.

Wonder how this all looks to Richard Shindell, the American folk singer-songwriter who moved to Argentina in part to escape people like Mark Sanford?

A once-promising political career has ended because Sanford chose to wine and dine with an Argentine.

No Kuwaitis. That's not his style. ;-)

Mark His Words

The latest from South Carolina: Mark Sanford did not hike the Appalachian Trail after all, though he'd considered it. He spent his absence doing something less explicable: He went to Argentina.

Alas, he was not considering political exile.

Maybe he was hunting for Nazi war criminals! :-D

All Sanford said was that he wanted to go someplace exotic after a long legislative session, so he went to Argentina and took a drive along a coastal highway.

I hope he didn't rent a convertible, because it only gets up to fifty degrees or so in Argentina at this time of year - it's winter down there!

Wonder if he knew that?