Sorry, Kentucky farmers. We’re making Argentina great again, not you | Opinion

Picture Donald Trump’s AI-generated video, donning a crown and flying an Air Force jet, swooping over protesters at “No Kings” rallies and dropping loads of feces on the crowds. It’s absurd and grotesque but unfortunately true. In the real world, though, it’s not the protesters getting splattered; it’s America’s rural communities.

Beneath the bill of goods sold lies a very real policy: Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again” now looks more like “Make Argentina Great Again.” Farmers know the smell of manure, and lately, they’ve been catching a strong whiff from Washington.

Nowhere is the fallout clearer than in Kentucky and neighboring states. According to 2024 Soystats data, Kentucky and our border state neighbors produce nearly 40% of all U.S. soybeans, while the USDA estimates that approximately 15% of U.S. cattle and calf inventory in these same states. Once dominated by tobacco, soybeans are now Kentucky’s leading row crop, the new king of Kentucky agriculture. Yet as U.S. exports shrink and global markets shift, the policies coming out of Washington are leaving Kentucky farmers and our neighbors on the losing end.

Trump’s recent embrace of Argentina’s President Javier Milei is less a partnership than a patronage of the Argentinian economy at the expense of U.S. agriculture. The U.S. Treasury has already committed a $20 billion line of credit to Argentina and is working on an additional $20 billion financing package, supposedly to stabilize the South American nation’s collapsing currency. Meanwhile, due to Trump’s tariff games, China ramped up its purchases of Argentine soybeans while U.S. soybean farmers watch their primary export market vanish.

Farmers left in the jet’s wake

Trump’s latest proposal to import Argentine beef to lower domestic prices has set off alarm bells among cattle ranchers, who rightfully see it as a direct betrayal.

As Caleb Ragland of Magnolia, Kentucky, president of the American Soybean Association, put it: “We need increased trade is the bottom line. That’s the lifeblood for American agriculture and the American soybean industry, in particular.”

Instead of securing those trade opportunities, this administration is propping up Argentina’s economy with bailouts and proposed increased purchases of Argentine beef while U.S. farmers watch their export markets evaporate. Trump’s policies are betraying the very farmers and rural communities he claims to champion. By supporting Argentine President Javier Milei with massive bailouts and a proposed beef import deal, his administration is prioritizing a foreign aid package over U.S. producers. Farmers are losing export access, facing lower prices, and dealing with increased competition from Argentina — all while the federal government pours billions into the Argentinian economy. The result is clear: farmers are being left in the Trump jet’s wake, forced to contend with the effects of both a failing economic experiment abroad and the long-term consequences of socialist-style handouts that distort markets. He’s flying the jet, spreading chaos, while cheering on Argentina’s ascendancy on the backs of U.S. farmers. Essentially: “Make Argentina Great Again.”

From “America first” to “Argentina first”

Trump touts himself as the defender of rural America, promising to fight for the “forgotten people.” Yet what’s happening now is the opposite. He’s backing a foreign competitor while sidelining the very people in rural America who believed in him most.

Beyond farmers, this sends a corrosive message: when you sell “America First” but execute “Argentina First,” you erode trust in institutions and betray the very promises of government. Rural voters may eventually realize they didn’t support a leader who truly cared for them; they supported a performance artist who left their livelihoods and communities more vulnerable.

If the administration truly wants to maintain the faith of rural America, it must start by prioritizing U.S. farm export markets through meaningful trade negotiations, not photo ops with the chainsaw-wielding, Argentinian president. We must resist foreign bailouts that disadvantage U.S. producers and demand transparency whenever taxpayer dollars are funneled overseas. Aid is no substitute for access to competitive markets, and subsidy handouts are no long-term solution; they create dependency, distort market incentives, and ultimately leave both nations weaker.

The contradiction is stark: Milei touts himself as a Libertarian, yet he now seeks massive socialist-style support in the form of bailouts that undermine market discipline. Also, U.S. farmers don’t want pity or subsidy handouts; they do want and deserve fair trade, stable markets, and policies that reward hard work rather than subsidize Milei’s dysfunction abroad.

Farmers and ranchers across Kentucky and neighboring states, the backbone of our rural economy, cannot afford to be the collateral damage of foreign policy theater. We should rename Trump’s campaign slogan: MAGA—“Make Argentina Great Again.” Because this is exactly what’s happening, and farmers are paying the price.

Ken Miller is a proud son of rural America and is a registered Libertarian.