Scott Bessent, billionaire investor and hedge fund founder, has thrown himself into the center of two political firestorms—one in New York City, the other thousands of miles south in Argentina. As Bessent helped engineer a $20 billion currency swap line for Argentina, run by the Elon Musk–like controversy-magnet president, the famously eccentric Javier Milei, he made clear New York City can’t expect similar treatment. Bessent harked back to a famous big-city tabloid newspaper headline when he said mayoral favorite Zohran Mamdani can “drop dead” if he runs the city into a financial crisis and expects Milei-like treatment.
While President Milei hailed the deal as a vote of confidence in his shock-therapy approach, critics accused Bessent and international financiers of propping up a reckless administration synonymous with both economic experimentation and authoritarian overtones.
Bessent’s dual interventions—threatening to cut off New York under a democratic socialist mayor and channeling billions to Argentina’s most polarizing leader in decades—have set off fierce debate over the role of private capital in shaping public destinies. His invocation of “drop dead” has become a rallying cry for critics who see the consolidation of financial power as fundamentally undemocratic, even as it draws praise from business leaders and conservative politicians wary of progressive economic ambitions.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
