Miley, Musk and Maga: Is Argentina Influencing America?

Argentina’s maverick libertarian President Javier Meili has completed a year in office, his efforts to revive the economy are still a work in progress – but his policies are proving influential in the US.

Miley came to power with a mission to cut state spending in a country that had been living beyond its means for years.

Despite his harsh austerity measures and Continuous increase in poverty rateHe still has the support of more than half the population, according to A survey was conducted earlier this month By CB Consultora Organization.

That level of popularity is similar to Donald Trump right now. Nearly half of US voters supported the president-elect in last month’s presidential election – and Trump has praised Miley as someone who can “make Argentina great again”.

Meanwhile, tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is set to play a key role in the incoming US administration, also praised Miley, saying Argentina is “experiencing a huge recovery” under his leadership.

But what is it that Trump and Musk see in Miley? And are they as close ideologically as is often assumed?

Miley’s greatest achievement to date, which Argentines value most, is her success in reducing inflation. But he has caused a stir in the US with his deregulation campaign, which has been seized upon by small-government activists seeking to shrink the size of the state in Washington along the lines of Buenos Aires.

In Miley’s initial package of measures, he cut state subsidies for fuel and halved the number of government ministries.

Now he is trying to push through a plan to sell off state-run companies, including the country’s flagship airline Aerolineas Argentinas, which has already been privatized once. Renationalized in 2008,

All this is music to the ears of Elon Musk, who is being tasked with similar cost-cutting initiatives under the banner of the so-called. Department of Government Efficiency – A misleading name, as it is an advisory body, not an official government department.

Musk and his co-leader at the department, fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, have said they want to cut federal regulations, oversee mass layoffs and close some agencies entirely.

Musk has talked about cutting federal government spending by $2tn (£1.6tn) – about a third of annual spending. According to him, Miley is doing a “fantastic job” in Argentina by “demolishing entire departments” – and he would like to do the same in the US with Trump’s blessing.

But longtime observers of Latin America are skeptical.

Monica De Bole, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, says that “there is no point taking inspiration from Miley to reduce the size of government.”

“The Argentine situation is very special to Argentina, because it was about addressing decades of mismanagement of public resources. It has nothing to do with the US.”

Ms de Bolle says Argentina had no choice but to act, because government spending was so high that the country was “tumbling into crisis every few years”.

“It suits Argentina, but not anyone else.”

Marcelo J. Garcia, Buenos Aires-based Americas director for global consulting firm Horizon Engage, says Miley’s decision to wield a chainsaw on the campaign trail as a sign of her attitude toward the government was a “masterpiece” of political marketing that “captured has “imagined small-state activists around the world”.

But he argues that while Musk’s own business interests would benefit from less government regulation, that’s not necessarily what Trump wants.

“I’m not sure the Trump platform is compatible with Miley-type chainsaw small government,” he told the BBC.

He points out that Trump’s policies “require bigger government in some areas”, such as building border walls and mass deportation of illegal immigrants. “You can’t do big programs like this with a small government.”

In Miley’s view, infrastructure projects are better left to the private sector and have nothing to do with the government.

Miley and Trump are on the same side in the global culture wars, condemning what they see as a “woke agenda.” But from the economic point of view their views are very different.

Miley is a passionate free-trader, and Argentina is a member of the South American trading bloc Mercosur, which also includes Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

While he is in favor of Mercosur’s recent Free trade agreement with the European Union, They do not like that the organization refuses to allow its individual member countries to make their own deals. As a result, he says, Mercosur has “ultimately become a prison”.

“If the blockchain is not a dynamic engine that facilitates trade, promotes investment and improves the quality of life for all citizens of our region, what is the point of it?” He said this earlier this month at the Mercosur summit in Uruguay where the agreement with the EU was signed.

Trump also agrees with his regional trade alliance, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), but for reasons that are opposite to Miley’s.

Trump wants to renegotiate the USMCA, an agreement he himself signed during his first term as a way to protect American manufacturing and protect American jobs.

They have even found a way to weaponize the alliance and threaten to impose blanket 25% tariff on goods from both Canada and Mexico until they can secure their shared borders with the US.

Monica de Bolle suspects that Trump shares Musk’s enthusiasm for a smaller state: “You can’t be a populist nationalist and not care about the size of government. So Trump doesn’t care. He “Put Elon in there because it’s fun to be with somebody who’s making noise.”

The economic debate will continue in both the US and Argentina. But ultimately, if half your population supports you, it means the other half does not support you. Trump will have to deal with this after his inauguration on January 20, but Miley is already having to deal with her polarized population.

As Marcelo J. Garcia sees it, Miley is a “divisive leader” who has made no effort to win over his opponents.

He says, “The half of the country that didn’t support him will arguably never support him, no matter how good the economy is, because they don’t want them to support him.”

He adds, “Leaders want everyone to like them. That’s not the case with Miley.”

In his view, this is a real weakness: “You can’t build a long-term sustainable political project if you don’t turn to the people who didn’t vote for you.”

Miley’s next big test of public opinion will come in October 2025, when Argentina holds snap elections. This could prove crucial in deciding whether his small-government revolution determines the country’s future – or whether, like previous attempts at reform, it falls out of gear.