So this year has been a painful one, for I’ve made three trips to Africa to report on children dying as a result of President Trump slashing humanitarian aid programs — his most lethal policy. In village after village I’ve found children perishing for want of $2 anti-malaria mosquito nets or 12-cent-a-day AIDS medicines.

Yet while the Trump policy seemed to me to be cruel, it at least appeared consistent and rooted in a clear ideology: He didn’t believe in foreign aid. Likewise, when Trump halted the entry of most refugees early this year, his motivation appeared obvious: He doesn’t want refugees.

Yet the plot now thickens. It turns out Trump likes some aid, and he’s good with white refugees.

Trump is backing a $20 billion rescue package for Argentina, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent talking about raising the total to $40 billion — more than the entire worldwide U.S.A.I.D. budget last year.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with bailing out a country facing a financial crisis: The United States did that in 1995 to rescue Mexico. One difference is that the Mexico bailout was well-crafted and succeeded, while for now it’s not obvious what policy has changed in Argentina that would lead the Trump bailout to achieve stability in a country that is still struggling after more than 20 previous bailouts (including one just this spring by the I.M.F.).

Another difference is that we had an enormous interest in stability in Mexico as our neighbor and major trade partner. Even Trump acknowledges that the bailout of Argentina does not reflect vital American interests: “We don’t have to do it,” he said this month. “It’s not going to make a big difference for our country.”

So why would Trump spend so much money to try to make Argentina great? In part to try to rescue a right-wing Trumpian ally, President Javier Milei, who is now floundering.

The bailout could also significantly benefit a number of wealthy American hedge fund investors, including two billionaire friends of Bessent who previously worked with him, The Times has reported. By some accounts, including Argentine press reports, one of them urged Bessent to intervene. By buying the peso and lifting its value, the United States gives those investors a chance to dump their bad bets.

So the United States is cutting off the kind of foreign aid that keeps children alive for 12 cents a day, but it’s willing to invest far larger sums in a dubious effort to prop up a distant economy — while effectively subsidizing tycoons who made bad investments.

I’m not suggesting that Trump and Bessent are spending $20 billion in American money with the principal aim of rescuing their hedge fund buddies; life is more complicated than that. But many wealthy American conservatives invested heavily in Milei’s Argentina because they were dazzled at the sight of Trump-like leadership in Argentina and by early economic improvements there — and the Trump administration is now trying to rescue Milei for similar reasons, in ways that will also greatly benefit billionaires who believed in him. Ideology and personal financial interests coincide.

“It’s not a bad thing that the U.S. uses its financial pumps to try and get countries out of trouble,” noted Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington. “The big problem with the Argentina situation is that unless something changes, it really is money down the drain.”

Bessent’s talk about increasing the bailout to $40 billion seemed to be an indication that the first $20 billion is likely to be insufficient. He framed the second round as coming from banks and other private investors, but it’s difficult to see why they would risk their capital without inducements from the Treasury. The Wall Street Journal reports that the banks are seeking some kind of guarantee or pledge to make sure they get their money back.

“The administration was willing to find this kind of money for what seems at least at the moment a badly designed rescue package that probably won’t work,” Kenny said, “when they can’t find money for well designed programs that were actually saving lives.”

Dean Karlan, a development economist at Northwestern University who previously was the chief economist at U.S.A.I.D., suggested applying the metric that Trump claimed at the beginning of his administration to be adopting: Does the aid advance American interests?

A great deal of traditional humanitarian assistance met that standard, Karlan told me. Aid workers suppressed Ebola so it wouldn’t spread to America. Anti-poverty initiatives may have made people less likely to migrate or to support terrorist groups. Nutrition programs put money in the hands of American farmers. Aid generally bolstered America’s soft power worldwide.

“These are all things that are in our interest,” Karlan said, adding, “Spending $20 billion or $40 billion on an Argentine bailout — it’s much more dubious that this is a good use of taxpayer money.”

As for refugees, The Times obtained documents indicating that the administration is considering a radical overhaul to prioritize English speakers, white South Africans and far-right Europeans as refugees. The cap for refugee admissions would be lowered by 94 percent, and those entering would be mostly white South Africans and Europeans. The Washington Post reports that up to 7,000 of 7,500 available positions would go to white Afrikaners from South Africa.

I think of Congolese refugees I interviewed recently in Uganda after they fled mass murder and mass rape, of Afghans I knew who kept American troops or aid workers alive, of Pakistani Christians or Iranian Baha’i followers facing persecution, or of women and girls who were trafficked — and those people can’t get access to the United States even as we pay for air tickets for better-off white Afrikaners who, in at least one case, complain about how difficult it is in America to find servants.

So humanitarianism is being turned into its opposite. Instead of feeding starving children, some foreign aid will reward hedge funds. And refugee status may go not to the world’s neediest, but to some of the world’s whitest.

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging the leaders to allow humanitarian aid to the region and affirmed his support for efforts to protect civilians.

The weekend calls in Washington came ahead of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s announcement that the U.S. was moving up a second carrier strike group in support of Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken intensified diplomatic outreach across the Middle East and beyond to rally an international response to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding.

The broad U.S. efforts reflect the international concern about the number of civilians at risk and the potential ramifications of a prolonged war as Israel told Gaza residents to move south and Hamas urged people to remain in their homes. The Biden administration has not publicly urged Israel to restrain its response after the Hamas attack a week ago, but has emphasized the country’s commitment to following the rules of war.

Addressing a Human Rights Campaign dinner Saturday in Washington, Biden linked the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to different versions of hate that he said must be stopped.

“A week ago we saw hate manifest another way in the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Biden said, citing the 1,300 lives lost in Israel as well as “children, grandparents alike kidnapped, held hostage by Hamas.”

“The humanitarian crisis in Gaza — innocent Palestinian families and the vast majority that have nothing to do with Hamas — they’re being used as human shields,” he said. “We have to reject hate in every form.”

Blinken met with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh before stopping in the United Arab Emirates as he sought ways to help civilians trapped in between the fighting and to address the growing humanitarian crisis.

He also called his Chinese counterpart as Palestinians struggled to flee from areas of Gaza targeted by the Israeli military before an expected land offensive.

Austin as well on Saturday spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, stressing the importance of safeguarding civilians. Austin offered updates on U.S. efforts to boost air defense capabilities and munitions for Israeli forces that he noted were aimed at stemming escalation of war, according to a readout of the call.

Austin said the Biden administration was sending the additional carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean. The Eisenhower will join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, which is already sailing near Israel, to bolster U.S. presence there with a host of destroyers, fighter aircraft and cruisers.

In a statement announcing the deployment, Austin said sending the second carrier was “part of our effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas’s attack on Israel.”

While Biden has spoken to Netanyahu multiple times since the Hamas attack, Saturday’s call was his first to Abbas, who runs the Palestinian Authority which controls the West Bank. According to a readout of the call, Abbas briefed the president on efforts to bring aid to Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza.

Biden reiterated to Abbas that “Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination,” according to the readout.

Biden spoke with Netanyahu to “reiterate unwavering U.S. support for Israel,” according to the readout. He briefed the Israeli leader on regional efforts to ensure civilian access to food, water and medical care.

The number of U.S. citizens killed rose to 29, U.S. officials said Satutday, and 15 were unaccounted for, as well as one lawful permanent resident.

Blinken, in his visits with Saudi and UAE leaders, also cited the need for humanitarian assistance and safe passage from those who wish to leave Gaza as he spoke to Arab audiences from their home turf, where his hosts put that issue at the top of their concerns.

An Israeli ground assault would worsen the plight of civilians in Gaza who are without power, fresh water or access to aid. Egyptian officials said the southern Rafah crossing would open later Saturday for the first time in days to allow foreigners out. Israel has advised all Palestinian civilians to flee south to avoid Israel’s continued offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza City.

Blinken also called Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to seek his country’s help in preventing the war from spreading, asking Beijing to use whatever influence it has in the Mideast. Blinken’s spokesman declined to characterize Wang’s response but said the U.S. believes it and China have a shared interest in the region’s stability.

In Riyadh, Blinken and Prince Faisal stressed the importance of minimizing the harm to civilians as Israel prepared for an anticipated incursion against Hamas a week after the militant group’s unprecedented attack against Israel.

“As Israel pursues its legitimate right, to defending its people and to trying to ensure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians, and we’re working together to do exactly that,” Blinken said.

“None of us want to see suffering by civilians on any side, whether it’s in Israel, whether it’s in Gaza, whether it’s anywhere else,” Blinken said.

The Saudi minister said the kingdom was committed to the protection of civilians.

“It’s a disturbing situation,” he said. “It’s a very difficult situation. And, as you know, the primary sufferer of this situation are civilians, and civilian populations on both sides are being affected and it’s important, I think, that we all condemn the targeting of civilians in any form at any time by anyone.”

A U.S official said Saturday that Washington did not ask Israel to slow or hold off on the evacuation plan. The official said the discussions with Israeli leaders did stress the importance of taking into account the safety of civilians as Israel’s military moved to enforce the evacuation demand.

The official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the private discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Israeli leaders acknowledged the guidance and took it under advisement.

The U.S. worked out an agreement involving to allow Americans and other foreigners in Gaza to cross the Rafah border into Egypt, but the crossing remained blocked Saturday, with no sign that those gathered would be allowed through. There are an estimated 500 Americans living in Gaza, but that number is imprecise, officials have said.

The U.S. State Department on Saturday authorized the departure of nonemergency U.S. government personnel and their family members from the American Embassy in Jerusalem and an office in Tel Aviv.

Prince Faisal said it was imperative for the violence between Israel and Hamas to end.

“We need to work together to find a way out of this cycle of violence,” he said. “Without a concerted effort to end this constant return to violence, it will always be the civilians that suffer first, it will always be civilians on both sides that end up paying the price.”

While in Abu Dhabi, Blinken visited the Abrahamic Family House, a complex consisting of a church, a mosque and a synagogue representing the three Abrahamic faiths. He signed a tile with the words “Light in the Darkness.”

Blinken returned to Saudi Arabia ahead of an expected stop in Egypt on Sunday. He has already visited Israel, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain.

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