Trump: Milei’s friend in the North?

At the start of 2018, Javier Milei had almost all the walls of his 100-square-metre flat in Abasto knocked down. One bedroom, a bathroom and nothing else were left standing: the home became a gigantic loft where only his five dogs, the clones of his late canine Conan, lived. 

The environment was strange to look at. There was, against one wall, a fridge and a sink (the oven or any cooking tools had been removed from the house, forcing his sister Karina to bring him food almost daily) and on the white floor, chains that kept the gigantic dogs tied to their places. 

Every piece of furniture and decoration had been removed. All except one: a giant painting of Ronald Reagan, the US actor who rose to the White House and the US presidency, a hero of neoliberalism whom Milei has always deeply admired.

Donald Trump’s presidential victory is central to Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party, but especially to libertarianism. And it must be understood, first, in this key: Milei, formed by the ideas of Murray Rothbard (the anarcho-capitalist who proposed to co-opt the Republican Party with his ideas and an admirer of Reagan), is a fervent consumer of the idiosyncrasies of the United States. He was forged by it. 

Now, as a politician, Milei has reaffirmed that conviction. Trump is more than a strategic ally for Milei. He is a role model, someone he looks up to, almost as a fan looks up to his favourite rock star. 

And Argentina’s president dreams of a new “carnal
relationship.”

Reference point

La Libertad Avanza has held Trump as a great reference point from the very moment it was born,  at the beginning of 2021. At the party’s first rallies, one could often see red baseball caps with the legend ‘Make America Great Again,’ and even photos and memes of Trump together with Milei.

There was a deeply-held conviction, beyond the mobilisations: the conviction that the world was turning their way and that key elements of Trump’s rhetoric could be echoed on this soil (such as the logic he imposed in the United States of going against “the establishment,” which is very similar to Milei’s raging against “the caste”).

Three years later, much has changed. Milei, who at the time was predicted to get less than five percent of the vote in his first electoral run in Buenos Aires City, is now Argentina’s President, and Trump, who was condemned in court and punished socially for the support he gave to the takeover of the US Capitol on January 20, 2021, has again reached the pinnacle of power in the world’s greatest superpower. In the meantime, something that the libertarian had insisted on has actually happened: a meeting with The Donald himself.

That event, in February this year, could have happened before, when Milei travelled to the United States in November, 2023, as president-elect. On that occasion, the libertarian became almost whimsical about the idea of a meeting with Trump, which led some in his team to say that it had to do with the fact that a few months earlier former president Mauricio Macri had been photographed with the former reality TV star and business tycoon, arousing Milei’s jealousy. 

However, at the time, restraint triumphed: it was Joe Biden of the Democratic Party who was running the country and the elections had not yet been decided – Milei’s team discouraged the meeting.

Trump is more than a strategic ally for Milei. He is a role model, someone he looks up to, almost as a fan looks up to his favourite rock star. 

In February they eventually met in Washington, during the ultra-conservative CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) forum, which brings together the top leaders of the new international right (the next edition of which will be held in Buenos Aires, in the first week of December). The video of the encounter is already a piece of recent Argentine history.

“Mister President,” says Milei, with a joy he could barely contain, accentuating the first “P” and the final “T.” He was so excited that even Trump seemed uncomfortable and took a step back, as if to create some distance between them.

With the ice broken, their relationship from now on will be between two presidents.

Bilateral ties

“The lying [Argentine singer] Indio Solari is far more likely to get along with Trump than a libertarian. To believe that Trump is a liberal is to be a leftist donkey” – the person who said this was neither a Communist nor a “bribed journalist,” but Milei himself. It comes from a tweet that the economist published in 2017, which matched what he used to repeat at the time in the media: voicing repeated criticism of Trump for being too statist.

This is all in the past. After his latest victory in the United States, Milei tried in various ways to communicate with the US president-elect. He posted a congratulatory message and even a video congratulating him on his TikTok account. Argentina’s government quickly spread the word that the two will meet face-to-face next week in Palm Beach. Another meeting could be added later, with Elon Musk. 

There has been contact in the days since the US election. On the night of the vote there was a mini-committee from La Libertad Avanza which made its way to Trump’s bunker. Three people from the founding line of the space: Santiago Santurio, a national deputy who went viral when he was insulted at an event at the University of La Plata; Agustín Romo, a lawmaker from Buenos Aires Province, one of the brains behind the ruling party’s digital arm; and lawyer Macarena Alifraco, daughter of Edgardo Alifraco. The latter two are part of top presidential advisor’s Santiago Caputo’s small team, especially Alifraco, who is his private secretary. Romo had his moment of stardom that night too: he took a photo of Trump talking confidently with Musk at a table, which went viral and hours later was uploaded by the Tesla owner himself.

Romo was not the only one who has gotten close. Milei’s Deregulation & State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger has exchanged chat messages with Musk, who will take up a similar position in the Trump’s government.

Future

The big question now is what Trump’s victory means for Argentina and also for Milei’s government.

It is clear that, at the very least, it means a triumph for the president’s international quest and his political ways. Sociologist and writer Ariel Goldstein says, in a phrase that can be read in a Mileiist key: “Trump repeats the strategy of McCarthyism. Never admit defeat, ‘always win’, attack and fight. The ‘multiple bluff,’ to launch nonstop lies, and to ‘fill everything with shit’, as his advisor Steve Bannon would say.”

Analysts Gustavo Sierra and Sergio Berensztein complete the picture.

“Trump does not arrive alone. This reactionary and anti-system wave is manifesting itself all over the world,” says the former, while the latter notes that “the survival of the system of values, alliances and international organisations that the United States has promoted since the post-war period will be at stake.”

There are unknowns. Will Trump push for a new disbursement for Argentina at the International Monetary Fund? In his first presidency, he did so when Macri was in power. This is a scenario that the current government is looking at, hoping that any additional concession from the Fund could bring another drop in the country risk rating, creating the possibility of more investment or taking on debt abroad. In any case, that is the optimistic scenario. Trump’s protectionist policy could also clash with the interests of the Argentine economy. 

It is not the only open flank. An account often attributed to Santiago Caputo, with the handle ‘@mileiemperador’ on X, posted on the night of Trump’s victory: “Donald wins. We have an excellent bond for a year. Donald gets jealous of Javier Gerardo Milei’s stardom, and Argentina and the United States become the two poles of global discussion. La Libertad Avanza!”

How Trump and Milei will coexist at the forefront of the new international right is another unknown that remains to be seen. In any case, all that remains to be seen. For now, Milei and his government are celebrating.