Milei in decline: the collapse of Argentine ultraliberalism

From libertarian promise to economic ruin.

Two years after being sworn in as president of Argentina, Javier Milei faces the exhaustion of a project that was born surrounded by fanaticism and promises of "refounding" the country. 

The ultra-liberal president, who came to power under the slogan of the chainsaw, saw the crumble of the discourse of ethical purity and economic efficiency that had transformed him into a media phenomenon.

The resignation of José Luis Espert, his leading candidate in the October legislative elections, following allegations of involvement with drug trafficking money, sealed a symbolic moment: the government that promised to "sweep away the old politics" ended up being swallowed by it — and by scandals of an even more serious nature.

The episode exposes the moral, political, and economic disorder of a government that mixed market ideology with authoritarianism, arrogance, and improvisation. Milei's collapse cannot be explained by external sabotage, but by a profound conceptual error: believing that one can govern a nation as one cuts a budget—by force, without dialogue, and without social empathy.

The Espert scandal and the discrediting of the anti-corruption discourse.

The departure of Espert, who was Milei's main hope for securing a legislative majority in the province of Buenos Aires, dismantles the moralistic narrative that "libertarianism" would be an antidote to clientelism. The allegations that he received US$200 from a businessman under investigation for drug trafficking—and his admission of the payment, under the pretext of consulting—directly undermine the government's credibility.

Milei, who built his image on the "morality of honesty," reacted with the same old political tactic: he accepted the resignation without explanation and sought external scapegoats. The fact is that the president lost control over the public agenda. The resignation came in the wake of defeats in Congress, which overturned presidential vetoes and restored funding for universities and pediatric hospitals. Argentine ultraliberalism is beginning to crumble. 

A country suffocating: the social cost of the "chainsaw"

Milei's self-proclaimed "management shock" has turned into a shock of misery. Inflation has not subsided as promised, unemployment is rising, and poverty is reaching levels comparable to the 2001 crisis. On the streets of Buenos Aires, middle-class families are resorting to donation lines and food banks.

The drastic cuts in subsidies, the privatization of strategic sectors, and the freezing of public investments have collapsed the structure of essential services. The government cut funding for school meals, reduced pensions, and frozen resources for universities, while preserving tax benefits for export-oriented agribusiness and foreign financial groups.

The rhetoric of "there is no money" has become a cynical dogma. There is money, yes—but only for rentiers and to sustain an exchange rate policy aimed at pleasing investors. The State that Milei swore to abolish has become the guarantor of private profits.

Authoritarianism and political isolation

Unable to negotiate, Milei rules by decree. Congress confronts him, the provinces resist, and the streets rise up in rebellion. The country lives in a state of permanent conflict.

Police repression against student strikes and demonstrations has become routine. Teachers, union members, and retirees are treated as internal enemies. The president who claimed to defend freedom now criminalizes dissent.

Moral decay is also affecting those close to the president. Karina Milei, the president's sister and chief of staff, is under investigation for irregular contracts. The government's ethical discourse has been replaced by an opaque and centralized logic of family power.

The economic collapse and the failure of the ultraliberal experiment.

Milei's supposed "fiscal victory" is an accounting illusion. The deficit was reduced at the cost of recession: the economy shrank, tax revenue fell, and domestic consumption plummeted. Spending cuts became an instrument of paralysis. Argentine industry operates with idle capacity, and agricultural production suffers from the contraction of domestic demand. The adjustment, far from stabilizing the currency, exposed the country to external vulnerability. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United States, which initially hailed the "courageous experiment," now warn of the risk of social collapse.

 The IMF, which praised Milei in early 2024 for implementing a "bold" adjustment, changed its tone and began warning of social and political risks due to falling incomes and exploding poverty (as stated in IMF communiqués after the 8th review of the Argentine program in mid-2025).

The US, which from the outset supported Milei as a "strategic ally," has expressed concern in recent State Department speeches about social instability and the impact of austerity policies on governance.

The disruption of production chains, unemployment, and the loss of purchasing power have deteriorated the social fabric. The "refounding of the nation" has become a project of destruction of the State and of citizenship.

Diplomacy of submission and the isolation of Argentina.

In the international arena, Milei opted for ideological subservience. He antagonized strategic partners such as Brazil and China, distanced himself from Mercosur, and aligned himself with Donald Trump and the global far right.

The situation worsened when, in the midst of a social crisis and with inflation exceeding 200%, Milei submissively accepted the $20 billion "aid" package offered by Donald Trump—an agreement sealed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and seen by many analysts as an electoral gesture disguised as solidarity. In practice, the financial aid, conditional on the purchase of military equipment and the opening of strategic sectors to American companies, symbolizes the loss of sovereignty and the return of Washington's tutelage over Buenos Aires. Trump, seeking international prominence and easy victories for his domestic campaign, found in Milei the ideal disciple: a leader willing to hand over the country in exchange for political survival.

The result is the most serious diplomatic isolation since the return to democracy. While Lula projects Brazil as an articulator of a new multilateralism, with dialogue within BRICS and climate leadership heading towards COP-30, Argentina is immersed in a reactionary solipsism that excludes it from the major debates of the 21st century.

The ballot boxes are approaching: the popular judgment of failure.

The legislative elections in October will be the first popular verdict on the Milei government. The signs are unmistakable: growing protests, falling approval ratings, loss of allies, and corruption allegations are eroding the foundations of power. Libertarianism, presented as a moral revolution, has revealed itself to be a rudderless and merciless financial populism. Milei promised to liberate the market and ended up enslaving the Argentine people to the dogma of capital.

His eventual attempt at re-election will find a devastated, exhausted, and disillusioned country. No government survives when it confuses destruction with reform, suffering with efficiency, and austerity with virtue. Argentina has already paid too high a price for this illusion.

Lula and Milei: two paths, two stories

While Milei cuts, Lula rebuilds.

The contrast is stark: Brazil is resuming growth through income redistribution, increases in the minimum wage, and expansion of social policies. The Brazilian state is once again becoming an instrument of inclusion and planning, not an enemy of society.

In Argentina, the chainsaw became a symbol of ruin; in Brazil, dialogue and reconstruction are consolidating a model of social and sovereign development.

The Argentine experience serves as a warning to the entire Global South: ultraliberalism is not an alternative, it is an abyss. Milei promised the future and delivered the past — a past of authoritarianism, hunger, and subjugation.

The Argentinian lesson

The Milei government may go down in history not as a libertarian revolution, but as a failed experiment in economic dehumanization.

Espert's resignation, the fiscal collapse, the capital flight, and the despair in the streets paint a picture of a country that believed it was enough to destroy in order to rebuild.

But Argentine society, proud and politically aware, will know how to react. In October, it will begin to write the next chapter and perhaps bring an end to the nightmare of a liberalism without a soul and without the people.