The wild politics and chainsaw made Argentina’s president an economic hero for the right. And now, with his nation’s finances in chaos: silence
So you really want to know how Prime Minister Farage would pan out? Well, speculate no longer. An excellent test case is unfolding right now, in a country that just so happens to be run by one of Nigel’s heroes. Javier Milei is “amazing”, said the CEO of the private company he calls Reform. “Cutting and slashing … doing all the things he’s done … that’s leadership.”
You may know some of this story, about how a political outsider took power in Argentina. You’ve seen photos of El Loco, the self-styled madman, in a black leather jacket, with sideburns like hedges and wielding a giant red chainsaw – all the better to slash the public sector with.
Taking over Latin America’s second-largest country made Milei the poster boy of the international hard right. Elon Musk: “I love Javier Milei.” Kemi Badenoch: “Javier Milei is the template.” Donald Trump: “My favourite president.” In office, he was lionised by Wall Street and the international commentariat. Milei’s economy was declared by no lesser sage than Niall Ferguson as a “man-made miracle”.
Yet over the past few weeks, Argentina has gone into freefall. Investors have yanked billions out of the country, and the peso has dropped like a stone. A few days ago Trump was forced to pledge $20bn (£15bn) to prop up his friend, in addition to a rescue loan from the IMF. Later this month, Milei faces midterm elections that will serve as a referendum on his presidency and the results are expected to be bad. “We are seeing in real time how a government can melt in front of our eyes,” Alejandro Bercovich, a leading Argentine TV and radio journalist told me this week. “I never thought they would collapse this quickly.”
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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/02/javier-milei-argentina-nigel-farage-donald-trump-elon-musk
