BLOOMBERG – Argentine President Javier Millay met with Donald Trump during a conservative convention in the United States, said he hoped he would return to the White House, and then gave a lecture on the economy to a crowd heavily engaged in campaign rhetoric.
Miley, a libertarian politician who won the presidency in November, crossed paths with Trump backstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington on Saturday, where he shouted “President!” He greeted him with a shout. In a video by Trump aide Dan Scavino.
“You've been a great president and I'm sure you'll be back,” Miley told Trump, who met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken a day earlier, as they shared a laugh.
The former president of the United States congratulated Miley during a speech that attacked President Joe Biden and defended his record in office.
“The highly publicized president of Argentina is a great man,” Trump told the audience. “You know, he's great, he's great—Make Argentina Great Again- He said, 'I am Maha' and then realized that he was one of the few who could do it well. Make Argentina great again”.
Millay chose a different tone in his speech, delivering an hour-long lecture on why neoclassical economics and post-Marxism are flawed.
Amid muted applause, Millay brought up “Locke's quota theory,” “Hayek's market as an inventive process,” and added jabs to “annoy the Keynesians.”
He ended with a simple message reiterating that he sees himself as a lion.
“Fight for your freedom,” Miley concluded, speaking in Spanish. “Every day we raise more lions. The message of freedom has not only led us to the presidency of Argentina, but we are awakening the whole world.
The 53-year-old president's visit to a convention that has become a magnet for pro-Trump Republicans risks straining Miley's ties to the Biden administration.
Asked about the timing, Milei spokesman Manuel Atorni told reporters last week that “there is no possibility of damaging our relationship with the United States.”
While Miley's libertarian leanings keep him aligned with a traditional Republican camp, he can't distance himself from the current Democratic administration: Argentina has US support for its US$44 billion in IMF funding. Economy Minister Luis Caputo said Wednesday that the government is exploring the possibility of requesting a new program from the International Monetary Fund.
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