Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent informed MSNBC co-host Jonathan Lemire on Tuesday of the most salient point regarding the United States’ decision to engage in a currency swap last month with Argentina: America benefited financially.
Argentina’s peso was fluctuating wildly going into the country’s midterm election, so the United States announced in mid-October that it would have a $20 billion currency swap to stabilize the market, The Guardian reported.
On Tuesday, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-hosts peppered Bessent with several questions about affordability, arguing that the Trump administration has not brought costs down fast enough, which increased significantly under President Joe Biden.
Bessent responded that the cost of gasoline, mortgages, and other items has fallen significantly and will continue to do so in relation to wages as Trump’s economic policies take hold.
Lemire then asked the treasury secretary, “How does a $20 billion bailout of Argentina help Americans?”
“Do you know what a swap line is?” Bessent responded.
🚨HOLY CRAP! Sec. Scott Bessent just SCHOOLED Fake News MSNBC anchor on how the US MADE MONEY on Argentina.
MSNBC: “How does a $20 billion bailout of Argentina help Americans?”
BESSENT: “Do you know what a swap line is?”
MSNBC: “It’s a currency swap. Yes.”
BESSENT: “But what… pic.twitter.com/yQhF1Ie5tr
— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) November 11, 2025
“It’s a currency swap. Yes,” Lemire answered.
Can you think of any other treasury secretary in history who performed better than Bessent is performing?
“But what is that? Bessent asked.
“You’re the treasury secretary, sir,” Lemire replied, basically admitting he may not really know what a currency swap is.
“Why would you call it a bailout?” the treasury secretary queried.
“In most bailouts, you don’t make money. The U.S. government made money. We used our financial balance sheet to stabilize the government,” Bessent continued.
He noted that Argentine President Javier Milei’s government is a friend of the United States.
“We have a generational opportunity in Latin America to create allies,” Bessent argued.
Further, “By stabilizing the economy there and making a profit, then that’s a very good deal for the American people,” he said.
Earlier in the interview, Bessent explained regarding affordability in the U.S., “We inherited a mess. It was the worst inflation in 40 or 50 years … Where was the discussion during [the presidency of] Joe Biden? Because during the Biden era, it was complete gaslighting.”
Regarding the new tariffs imposed by Trump, the secretary said, “They brought down the budget deficit, and MIT came out with a study that said that 42 percent of the great inflation [under Biden] was caused by the big deficit spending. So as you bring down deficit spending, inflation will come down.”
In fact, just a few months into his administration’s new tariff policy, Trump was able to reverse the trend of increasing deficits under Biden.
In 2022, the deficit was $1.38 trillion, and in 2023 $1.7 trillion, and in 2024, $1.83 trillion.
This fiscal year, which ended in September, the deficit was $1.78 trillion. In January, the Congressional Budget Office had projected the deficit would be $1.9 trillion.
After being projected to grow to $1.9 trillion in January, the federal deficit actually fell this past fiscal year following substantial increases during Biden’s last two years in office, per @USTreasury figures. pic.twitter.com/BMPnHp5NEY
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) November 12, 2025
Total revenue to the federal treasury for fiscal year 2025, which ended on Sept. 30, was $5.23 trillion versus fiscal year 2024’s $4.92 trillion, so over a $300 billion increase, which can be attributed partly to tariff revenue and a growing economy.
So Trumponomics is working and just getting started, no doubt to the chagrin of MSNBC.
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