Javier Milei: An Illiberal Libertarian?

The Argentine president’s socially conservative populism might trump his free market economics

President of Argentina Javier Milei at CPAC in Washington, D.C. on February 24, 2024. Credit: Lev Radin. Shutterstock.

Javier Milei, whose remarkable victory in Argentina’s presidential election in November registered a seismic shock to the country’s political system, presents himself as a freedom-loving libertarian but then effusively praises Donald Trump who leads a big-government, social conservative agenda. At the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., not quite three months into his tenure, Milei delivered a speech in which he outlined a libertarian vision for the state but also dabbled in extremist, conspiratorial rhetoric, such as when he described abortion as a murderous, population-shrinking agenda whose origins are in Ancient Egypt’s genocidal treatment of Jews. On stage, Milei championed the free market and warned against state intervention; backstage, Milei excitedly gave Donald Trump a bear hug and expressed his fervent hope that he will be re-elected this November. “Make Argentina Great Again,” Trump said while posing for a thumbs-up photo with Milei, reappropriating his own slogan to situate the new Argentine president firmly within his MAGA project. “Long live freedom, damn it!” Milei responded, repeating the catchphrase he uses to end his speeches.

Though neither Trump nor Milei would consider these sentiments contradictory, they do emphasize very different values within the right’s overarching governing philosophy. MAGA is a yearning for a recovery of a society unsullied by the liberal pathologies that the populist-nationalist right believes have ruined America, and it sees a heavy-handed reliance on state power as crucial for enacting its agenda. Milei’s emphatic advocacy for freedom, on the other hand, is a function of his libertarianism, which in its classical form recoils at any use of statist authoritarian measures in pursuit of social design.

But when we dig through Milei’s emergence and his curious mix of policies and populist rhetoric, it is clear he is no consistent classical liberal. He is an economic libertarian and social conservative with a rather regressive cultural agenda. As Nicolás Saldías, senior analyst for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Economist Intelligence Unit, put it: “There’s a part of it, which is libertarian, which is, ‘I just don't believe the state … should be engaging in what we would call social engineering.’ On the other hand, there is a social conservatism.”

There are signs that he will have a tough time sticking to his free-market libertarian commitments compared to his socially conservative ones. Although Milei has commendably leveled with the public about the short-term pain his fiscal libertarianism will inflict, Argentines won’t go along with it indefinitely, and successfully enacting an agenda that requires painful economic upheaval will require the kind of deft political management he has not yet shown he possesses. That could mean less freedom all around for his country.

From Professor To President

Milei rose to prominence as an economist—as the chief economist for various organizations, an economics professor, an author of academic papers and books on economic subjects—who would frequently appear on Argentine television programs, attacking everyone from politicians to Pope Francis, whom he called “the imbecile in Rome” who “preaches communism.” The bombast got noticed. But people also paid attention to his libertarian ideas and incessant emphasis on the importance of freedom even during the pandemic to protest Argentina’s quarantine, one of the world’s longest and strictest.

“He was the only economist who in a constant, systematic, and disciplined way was in the media criticizing the inflationary [economic] model and proposing something different: dollarization,” Sergio Berensztein, an Argentine pollster and political analyst, told America magazine (an idea he shelved after being elected). He ousted the ruling Peronist coalition, which had run Argentina for 16 of the previous 20 years (the only interlude being Mauricio Macri’s tenure from 2015 to 2019). Argentine politics has split between Peronists and anti-Peronists—with the former running candidates over the past 40 years pushing everything from neoliberalism to state intervention in the economy. Peronism’s ideological malleability makes it difficult to pin it down politically, but what’s notable is that Milei captured the anti-Peronist vote while at the same time taking an unexpected portion of the Peronist vote.

“The Milei phenomenon covers all social classes,” Fernando Domínguez, a political science professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, told me last month. But surveys suggest young voters—especially males—were particularly attracted to Milei. Pundits often attributed the appeal for young voters to Milei channeling the anger of a generation, which grew up with rising inflation and recurring economic crises. That is no doubt part of it. But a team of academics surveying young voters found that they actually paid attention to Milei’s proposals—and liked what they heard. “Milei’s voters aren’t just disaffected,” the survey authors wrote in America’s Quarterly. “They agree with him, and they’re disproportionately young and male,” matching a global trend of younger men tilting right. 

These voters, the authors wrote, were “more aligned with Milei’s ideology: conservative, with pro-market preferences. … They’re opposed to the pace of cultural change on gender issues. … They also think that taxes kill employment and welfare is only acceptable on a temporary basis.” They cautioned, however, “For Milei, it opens the opportunity to shape a durable electoral coalition.”

It remains to be seen how much Milei will accomplish given some initial governing missteps, weak support in Congress, and a lack of allies among the provincial governors. It’s also uncertain how long Argentines will remain patient amid the pain of austerity and rising poverty. 

Argentine Austerity

How have Milei’s policies, which he considers a moral imperative, fared in practice thus far?

On the one hand, Argentina turned its first monthly budget surplus in 12 years in January and followed it up in February. Though yearly inflation through February reached an astronomical 276%, inflation continued to decrease under Milei month to month, slowing to 13% in February, a 7% drop from the previous month. Meanwhile, a decree ending rent controls sent the number of rental properties on the market in Buenos Aires soaring by 60%, according to an independent analysis.

On the other hand, poverty has soared—as predicted—reaching 57.4% in January, the highest level in 20 years, according to Social Debt Observatory at the Pontifical University of Argentina. Milei promised pain in his inaugural address on Dec. 10—and largely delivered. He also fired bureaucrats and ended a raft of subsidies.

More than a quarter of students in private schools are poor, according to the Social Debt Observatory’s survey. Soup kitchens report long lines. Seven percent fewer prescriptions have been filled since Milei took office, The Economist reported, while salaries have receded 20 years in real terms, according to the consultancy Invecq. Much of the savings allowing for the budget surplus came from cutting transfers to the provinces and failing to uprate pensions and benefits to inflation, the Financial Times reported.

Milei has also implemented punishing levels of austerity.

He closed half of Argentina’s 18 ministries upon taking office, including the Women’s, Gender and Diversity Ministry—citing the need to save money, all measures in line with his libertarian economics. He also started audits of food deliveries for soup kitchens, arguing the intermediaries—often affiliated with the previous government—were siphoning off supplies for the needy. Analysts see the president using austerity as a cudgel to bludgeon opponents, while also targeting progressives. This is free-market ideology weaponized to serve politically retaliatory ends, they allege. But so far these accusations are not sticking.

Milei pledged to fix the economy but said it would take time. “The political class left the country at the brink of its biggest crisis in history. We don’t desire the hard decisions that will need to be made in coming weeks, but regrettably they didn’t leave us any option,” Milei said at his inauguration.

Milei did not enjoy a boost in his approval rating after assuming office, in contrast to his predecessor. But his radical candor has kept his approval rating above 50% even as people slip into poverty. “He was very clear that he's going to enact very severe austerity policies. And he's done it,” said Saldías. “Honesty is a real asset of his because he’s like, ‘I’m not a politician, I’m not here to tell you things to make you feel better. I'm here to tell you what I’m going to do.’” 

But there are signs that his economic libertarianism is at least somewhat wavering given that he did not follow through on his much-ballyhooed dollarization and has also raised taxes on imports and exports, which is anathema to libertarian economics. Meanwhile, he wanted to use federal forces to investigate and arrest those protesting his economic policies, an affront to civil libertarian principles. Supporters, for their part, portray the protesters as political opponents—often affiliated with unions—who said little as the economy crumbled under the previous Peronist government.

Populist Firebrand

But even though his austerity measures run counter to populism, Milei won office on a very populist promise, namely, to take a chainsaw to the state and chasten a political class he calls “the caste.” He has combined his austerity policies with a vicious anti-establishment discourse, routinely berating lawmakers and governors who, he claims, act against the people. He manages his own social media accounts and regularly likes and reposts screeds against his rivals expressing sentiments such as “traitors to the homeland,” “criminals,” and “the caste vs. the people.” He told Radio Mitre: “The majority of politicians can’t step into the street because if the people recognized them, they’d skin them alive.”

Milei attacks lawmakers in-person, too. He opened the latest session of Congress on March 1 with a fiery speech, telling lawmakers, “The political caste’s system serves to expropriate Argentines’ riches and give it to their political clients and friends.”

No surprise, then, that Milei has chosen confrontation rather than negotiation. Given that none of the country’s 23 governors—who heavily influence congressional delegations from their provinces—and fewer than 15% of lawmakers in both houses of Congress belong to his La Libertad Avanza party, this seems like a serious misstep in his governing approach. One of Milei’s early moves as president was submitting a massive omnibus bill to Congress with measures for privatizing public companies and liberalizing the economy. But the lower house sent it to committee in early February, effectively stalling the bill and prompting Milei to brand the lawmakers “traitors.” The Senate followed by voting down a mega-decree, meaning the measures remain in place only if the lower house doesn’t follow suit.

“He’s very fundamentalist. He’s a true believer. And anyone [who] stands in his way is the enemy. But that's not how politics works,” Saldías said. “You would think that he will learn how to govern, but I’m kind of skeptical. He just seems to be unable to moderate.” 

International Reception

Milei’s lack of moderation only bolsters his international appeal. He's attracted enormous curiosity for his shaggy hairdo, vituperative speaking style, and personal eccentricities—like owning five English Mastiffs, four of which are named for libertarian economists, which the never-married Milei calls his “four-legged children.” 

His libertarian rants attract attention, too. He traveled to Davos in January for his first foreign trip as president, where he warned the World Economic Forum, “The Western world is in danger. … Those who are supposed to defend the values of the West have been co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism, and therefore to poverty.” He continued, “Whether they proclaim to be openly communists, fascists, Nazis, socialists, social democrats, national socialists, Christian democrats, neo-Keynesians, progressives, populists, nationalists or globalists, there are no major differences. They all say the state should steer all aspects of the lives of individuals.” Noted Financial Times journalist Anne-Sylvaine Chassany: “The Davos elite had been lectured about losing its way and … loved it.”

But it isn’t just the Davos business elite whom Milei is rebuffing. He has said Argentina will not pursue relations with unfriendly countries, though he has backpedaled on China, which buys enormous amounts of soybeans from Argentina. The leftist governments in the region that have shown disdain for Milei are another matter. Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela’s left-wing presidents all boycotted his inauguration. Mexico’s populist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), spoke mournfully of Argentines opting for “neoliberalism”—despite AMLO himself implementing austerity measures that were so severe they left Mexicans almost entirely to their own devices during the Covid pandemic. Milei responded by calling AMLO “ignorant”—but that almost felt friendly compared to his descriptor for Colombia’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro, whom he called a “terrorist murderer.”

Milei’s arrival accentuated the sharp left-right divide in Latin American countries, where the left had been ascendent in recent years and the right was radicalized by Venezuela’s disastrous experience with “21st century socialism.” “Milei has a highly ideological style that has deepened divides among governments in the region,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Wilson Center's Latin America Program and an Argentina expert. “But he isn’t entirely to blame,” he notes. “Many of his sparring partners abroad openly campaigned against him.”

America’s Champion

But when it comes to America, Milei is an unabashed pro-U.S. voice in a region where left-leaning governments are generally hostile to the superpower. His fondness for the United States—for which Argentine elites often express contempt—was on display during his campaign as supporters waived yellow Gadsden flags. Some even sported blue MAGA hats, reading: Make Argentina Great Again.

“He doesn’t criticize the United States. He doesn’t [rant] about American imperialism and capitalism. He likes those things. He likes America. He likes American values.” Saldías said. “The libertarian values he exposes are extremely American.”

That makes him wildly popular with many American libertarians (although recently the libertarian Reason magazine published a highly critical piece about him; more on that later). And it also makes him an icon among U.S. conservatives who exult over Milei for his culture war politics such as ending the use of gender-inclusive language in government. Tucker Carlson traveled to Buenos Aires to interview the then-candidate after his upset victory in the primary election. Elon Musk even promised to invest in Argentina, according to Milei. (One exception is commentator Sohrab Ahmari who grouses that Milei’s libertarianism is stronger than his conservative populism. “[He] rejects nearly everything ‘MAGA’ populists in the United States, and analogue movements across the developed world, claim to stand for,” Ahmari rants. He slammed the Argentine president as “a doctrinaire Hayekian seemingly grown in a secret laboratory funded by the Koch brothers, with the editorial staff of Reason, the extremist libertarian magazine based in Washington, serving as the scientists.”)

Right-wing populist politicians outside of the U.S. have also been quick to claim Milei as a fellow traveler. They include Bolsonaro and his politician sons, El Salvador’s law and order president, Nayib Bukele, and Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. 

Milei, on his side, is also a lover of right-wing politicians. He’s an unabashed admirer of Benjamin Netanyahu, too, and traveled to meet him in February—a reflection of Milei’s startlingly effusive embrace of Judaism.

(Milei’s one notable departure from his right-wing, populist counterparts is that he is so far backing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy—who had a heated exchange with Orbán in Argentina’s Congress at Milei’s inauguration—and is promising to push support for the Ukrainian cause in Latin America. That might be partly a reaction to the Latin American left’s enduring fondness for Russia.)

Social Illiberal

But Milei’s illiberal streak is most apparent on social issues. He has repeatedly expressed strong anti-abortion beliefs. These are “based on a philosophical question, which has to do with the right to life,” he told The Economist. After his party introduced a draconian bill in February to overturn Argentina’s 2020 decriminalization of abortion, Milei ultimately disavowed it through a government spokesman saying it wasn’t a priority. But he later told an audience of schoolchildren, “Abortion is murder.”

His social conservatism doesn’t stop there. Milei has railed against “gender ideology” and characterized climate change as a socialist lie. He also favors heavy-handed law and order approaches in the face of narco-gang violence that excite social conservatives but disquiet classical liberals.

“I see him as a self-obsessed populist with a savior complex who gratifies libertarians by echoing their ideas. Yet his actions contradict his words: He raises taxes, escalates the drug war, restricts social freedoms, threatens his political opponents, and appoints political hacks from previous corrupt administrations to positions of power,” Antonella Marty, Director of Sociedad Atlas and author of several books on libertarianism, wrote in a critical profile in Reason, a striking departure from the widespread libertarian enthusiasm over him.

Milei is a complicated mix of ideology, populism, and contrarianism. But he is a self-avowed libertarian, which is why it’ll be truly ironic if he ends up presiding over a net increase in statism.

© The UnPopulist 2024

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