Monica de Bolle doubts that Trump shares Musk’s enthusiasm for a smaller state: “You can’t be a populist nationalist and care about the size of government. So Trump doesn’t care. He put Elon there because it’s kind of fun to have someone there making noise.”
The economic debate is set to run and run, in both the US and Argentina. But ultimately, if one half of your population supports you, it means the other half doesn’t. Trump will have to deal with that after his inauguration on 20 January, but Milei is already having to cope with his own polarised population.
As Marcelo J García sees it, Milei is a “divisive leader” who has made no attempt to win over his opponents.
“The other half of the country that did not support him will arguably never support him, no matter how well the economy does, because he doesn’t want them to support him,” he says.
“Leaders tend to want to be liked by everyone. That’s not the case with Milei,” he adds.
In his view, this is a real weakness: “You don’t build a long-term sustainable political project if you don’t move towards the people who didn’t vote for you.”
Milei’s next big test of public opinion will come in October 2025, when Argentina holds midterm elections. That could prove crucial in deciding whether his small-government revolution determines the country’s future – or whether, like previous attempts at reform, it runs out of steam.
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