In the US, Milei did not get his photo with Messi or Trump
Aram Aharonian
After his trip to the United States, where he failed to take a picture with Donald Trump or Lionel Messi, libertarian president Javier Milei reaffirmed his alignment with the United States and claimed that Argentina would receive investments worth one hundred billion dollars—though he didn’t actually announce any specific deals. Meanwhile, he is trying to prolong the post-election honeymoon period and is working to gather allies in power (which he is not willing to share).
Despite feeling crestfallen for not securing a photo with star Lionel Messi (he settled for one with Spaniard Rafael Nadal), his alignment with Washington—specifically with Donald Trump—is not in doubt. After more than a decade of development, he decided to halt the construction of the largest radio telescope in the Southern Cone at Leoncito National Park, a decision labeled as a “depressing scientificicide” by Jorge Castro, Dean of the Faculty of Exact Sciences at the National University of San Juan.
Milei wasted no time, returning to Miami less than ten days later to celebrate with friends from the ultraright coalition Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) the results of the October 26 legislative elections—results even he hadn’t expected. He arrived at a time when the Republican Party suffered its worst electoral defeat, as New York elected 34-year-old democrat Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim and socialist, as mayor. Milei called him a communist and anti-Semite and said that Jewish voters who supported him were “idiots.”
At Mar-a-Lago, Milei decided to imitate Trump’s famous dance, and as expected, social networks filled with criticism and ridicule, as noted by European media: “Nothing makes him happier than being a lackey of Trump and the US,” read one scathing comment.
Without wasting time, Milei resumed filling empty cabinet posts—Patricia Bullrich and Luis Pérez Petri will finish when they take office as newly elected legislators and leave their posts overseeing Security and Defense. Milei also began to pursue changes to pension, tax, and labor regimes, which anticipate increased requirements and reduced rights for workers and retirees, as well as new tax hikes.
While libertarians debate their candidate for Buenos Aires governor in 2027, scandals tied to the Libra crypto scam, disability medication bribes, and the sale of public offices fade. Cases of espionage against former president (now ally) Mauricio Macri are closing; appeals by Cristina Kirchner are dismissed, and the Notebooks trial begins, with ex-judge Glock Claudio Bonadío and prosecutor Carlos Stornelli extorting detained entrepreneurs by promising freedom if they accused the former president.
Karina Milei, completely empowered, has tried to bypass Congress and is now furious with the head of the Navy.
The Secretary General of the Presidency—and the president’s sister—Karina Milei became upset with Navy Chief Carlos Alievi for refusing a US request for the Argentine destroyer participating in the Unitas mission to redeploy to Puerto Rico to join the US military scheme in the Caribbean, harassing Venezuela and Colombia.
The President posted a cover of the classic song “Libre” made famous by Nino Bravo, along with a personal reflection and criticism of socialism, commemorating the 36th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. “On a day like today, in 1989, the sinister Berlin Wall fell and with it the lie of real socialism. Its demise showed the failure of the socialist utopia, whose most important lesson is that welfare and justice are two sides of the same coin,” he remarked.
With his four jackets, megaphone, or rock band, Milei continues shouting the same adjustment slogans that brought him to power. His sister Karina, with her monosyllables and nurturing presence, endures hurtful chants during concerts and football stadiums, notes analyst Roberto García in Perfil.
Javier Milei’s sweeping victory across much of the country has even lifted the mood of the most dejected, and as if emptying out pockets to add new contents, people magically stop talking about the economy (or the dollar, which for Argentines is practically the same thing). Politics and other matters take precedence; the opposition plunges into chaos, and the President celebrates in Miami as if at Disney World.
On this trip, there was no photo with Trump.
Donald Trump has come to see Javier Milei as his top ally in the region—and possibly his greatest admirer worldwide—pledging continued support, especially now that Argentina’s president adopts a pragmatic approach, making it easier to pass laws that deepen his model.
Now that 40% of society again endorsed the “best government in history” at the polls, the poor results of the ruling coalition in Buenos Aires province and the rest of the country during the year have faded. With voter participation at its lowest in over four decades (67%), the ultra-right La Libertad Avanza’s surprise rebound in 15 provinces, including Buenos Aires—the largest and most important—left almost everyone in shock and ushered in a new scenario with two main features.
On one side, the country risk halves, Argentine stocks surge, and the government accelerates reforms while regaining support from political, economic, and judicial power players. On the other, the political opposition loses strength and splits openly, while vanquished social groups must now fight an empowered government without expecting help from the political leadership.
Has everyone already forgotten the Libra crypto scam, the 3% bribes linked to Karina and her entourage, the presidential enforcers with special abilities? For now, there are few complaints about the government’s renewed use of official advertising funds to punish critics and reward allies, and “militant” journalists have returned to the official fold after months flirting with betrayal, recalls Perfil.
The “kuka risk” (Kirchnerism-Peronism), a supposed threat to seize power and turn Argentina into Venezuela or something worse, as the government claims, has also faded. Former president Cristina Kirchner isn’t just under arrest—she may be convicted for another corruption scandal, even as scandals in the current government go unmentioned.
Peronism drifts, awaiting new leadership that may never materialize if Cristina Kirchner stays active. The yellow tide of Mauricio Macri’s neoliberal PRO has turned violet—the libertarians’ color. Governors now worry more about surviving the crisis than pushing another federal or productive third-way electoral project.
Media outlets note: Milei sets the country’s agenda for any activity, dominating headlines and conversations. Clients now buy into crime, insecurity, sports, and the intellectual gossip around showbiz scandals as if discussing Sartre vs. Camus.
Labor reform
Two new figures appear on the summer Senate scene: until now repressive Security Minister Patricia Bullrich (who will lead the parliamentary bloc) and Gerardo Zamora, governor of Santiago del Estero, the only one aiming for the presidency in 2027.
Federico Sturzenegger was summoned for questioning. Beyond the new faces, everyone stakes themselves on labor reform, which is no longer just the project of deregulation and state transformation minister Sturzenegger, after some reality checks from Peronist governors.
There is broad approval of Sturzenegger’s proposal, but it faces at least three hurdles: scant appetite for regional or company-specific agreements that could empower small unions, often dominated by the left. This argument was once a banner of the powerful General Confederation of Labor (CGT) to block Marxist advances in Argentina, especially in the ’70s.
This weekend, the CGT toughened its stance after statements by Octavio Argüello, co-secretary general, who promised unions would “fight on all fronts” against the labor reform promoted by the government. Argüello, a Teamster leader, warns the labor central faces “a decisive moment” with “a sellout government seeking to erode rights.”
Now that Argentines have gotten used to a president who shouts, insults, and is cruel—justifying it as “Javier is like that”—the world’s first libertarian president may dream of re-election in two years (maybe with a Milei-Milei ticket), with far more than the 40% he got last October 26.
So he may continue to receive international awards—including, perhaps, the Nobel Prize in Economics (why not? The Venezuelan María Corina Machado got a Nobel for encouraging the US invasion of her country), as Milei himself predicts. Only one thing is missing: for the real economy to echo all the supposed good news in the official narrative.
Triumphalism
There is a wave of triumphalism in Argentina’s libertarian government. Astonishingly, just three months ago, everything President Javier Milei, his sister, his officials, and his candidates did was deemed wrong—now, after the 40% won in October’s legislative elections, everything seems right, or at least “normal.” Is this acceptance or moral defeat?
Triumphalism is the pathological variant of valuing success. The word “success” comes from the Latin exitus, meaning “exit.” At times, it seems there is a collective need to value a politician’s success as an emergency exit—a hopeful escape from a pressing present, notes Perfil, who recalls once-successful presidents all ceased being so one day.
Triumphalism toward them lasted, for example, through the long presidencies of Carlos Menem and the Kirchners (Néstor and Cristina Fernández), and even during brief periods, like the radical De la Rúa (who fled by helicopter from the Casa Rosada), neoliberal Mauricio Macri, and the forgettable Alberto Fernández (an exceptional case, with 80% approval during his first months in office).
It becomes a pandemic, “officialitis,” with pseudo-superpresidents portrayed by the media as if armored against any slip or mishap, and whom most politicians, entrepreneurs, economists, judges, and journalists defend vigorously, or at least treat with charity. Triumphalism is a pathological appreciation of success, in societies where expectations always exceed what the elected actually achieve.
Javier Milei’s government paid the IMF $850 million in interest but refuses to say where the money came from—whether through market purchases, directly from the Central Bank, or new US Treasury loans. Payment was due on November 1, but…
Analysts say Milei is enjoying a grace period, blessed by post-election fortune, convinced his destiny is guided by the One, and that he will emerge victorious from his mission: not just to save the country, but to rescue the world from the clutches of the Devil.
Messianic drive was an unknown political force here until the Mileis—Javier and his sister Karina, the accused bribe-taker—burst onto the scene, introducing a new leadership type, showing that mystical will can surpass rational will in our fragile postmodern era.
It’s what these siblings demonstrated in the recent campaign. No corruption scandal, street protest, or criticism made them falter. There were other candidates with more sophisticated or empathetic ideas for the suffering. But 40% of voters saw the extreme will of their leader not as delusion, but as a break with the old order. Many were likely part of the 56% who already voted for him in 2023.
Between elections, 16% of votes were lost—those who were no longer won over by willpower or model results.
The question remains: how long will this grace period between Javier Milei and that 40% last, especially now that September again showed economic activity shrinking by 0.8%, marking a second consecutive quarterly decline—economists might call that a recession.
Will Milei arrive intact at the 2027 presidential election day, or will his disruptive style fade if it fails to deliver real gains for most Argentines?
Last Friday, industrial activity data also showed a 0.7% fall from already-recessive September 2024. In four months, industry output fell 3.6%, worse still without factoring in the 17% jump in oil refining.
In the coming months, it will be clearer whether—besides lower inflation—the economy will exit recession, consumption will rise, businesses will stop closing, and unemployment will fall. Only then will we see if current triumphalism becomes real management success, or if it was just more “success-addiction,” that rare disease afflicting the famous, which commercial media know how to exploit.
Uruguayan journalist and communication expert. Master in Integration. Creator and founder of Telesur. President of the Latin American Integration Foundation (FILA) and director of the Latin American Center for Strategic Analysis (CLAE)