Argentine President Javier Milei met with President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday night at a gala event in which he delivered a blistering speech against Marxism, embracing the president-elect and offering Argentina’s support on foreign policy.
Milei is the first sitting world leader to meet with Trump following his victory in the November 5 presidential election. Trump is expected to return to the White House on January 20, only the second president in American history to win two non-consecutive presidential terms. Milei has been in office since December 2023 and won the presidency of his country on a similar platform of streamlining the federal government, eliminating corruption, and realigning the nation’s foreign policy to support freedom and human rights, away from the influence of China and Iran.
Trump granting his first post-election meeting to a Latin American president marks a major departure for American foreign policy in the last decade, which largely disregarded the Western Hemisphere and prioritized Europe and the Far East. In 2016, Trump’s first in-person guest after winning the election was the late Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, whom he would go on to describe as a close friend.
Milei, a libertarian economist, has been an enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s for years, long before he first ran for office in 2021.
Milei and his team published photos on Thursday night of the two presidents grinning together at the event, a gala for the America First Policy Institute (ASPI).
The two embraced and spoke in a private, casual conversation for about ten minutes, Milei staffers told the Argentine press. The event welcomed an estimated 700 attendees, many of whom Milei also greeted including Vice President-elect JD Vance and several prospective members of the future Trump administration.
Milei also met with other high-profile guests at the event, publishing photos with actor Sylvester Stallone, who also spoke at the gala. Milei published a photo to his social media accounts alongside Stallone and his sister and top adviser Karina Milei.
Trump personally thanked Milei for his presence at the Florida event during his address, congratulating him on “the job you’ve done is incredible, to make Argentina great again.”
In a more lighthearted moment, Milei also danced to the Village People song “YMCA,” a staple on the Trump campaign trail.
“You’ve done a fantastic job in a very short period of time. It’s an honor to have you here,” Trump said, according to the Argentine newspaper La Nación.
Milei used his address to the gala to condemn communism and declare himself “blessed” for the opportunity to speak in the United States. He also congratulated Trump and thanked him for “putting at risk his own life” to serve his country, a reference to the failed assassination attempt against him in July.
“Today the world is much better because the winds of liberty are blowing, which are much stronger,” Milei declared. “A true miracle and unfailing proof that the forces of Heaven are on our side.”
Milei, an avid student of Judaism and potential future convert, regularly paraphrases a passage from 3 Maccabees that refers to the “forces of Heaven” as being in support of his movement. Milei supporters in Argentina regularly use memes bearing images from the popular Japanese anime program Dragonball Z coupled with the phrase “welcome to the forces of Heaven” to address people who newly profess their support for Milei and libertarianism generally.
“In 1848, [Karl] Marx began that sinister pamphlet, his Communist Manifesto, saying that a ghost was traveling through Europe: that of communism,” Milei narrated in his speech. “Today, a different one is traveling the world: that of freedom, which comes to do away with the model of servitude that is reigning in the free world.”
“As the ancients once did, I believe we must unite to confront barbarism and create an alliance of nations, establishing new political ties,” Milei suggested.
Argentine President Javier Milei attends the America First Policy Institute Gala held at Mar-a-Lago on November 14, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. President-elect Donald Trump has been announcing a number of nominees for his upcoming administration. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Of Trump, Milei said, paraphrasing Argentine journalist José Hernández, “Brothers must be united, this is the first law because if they fight among themselves, those outside will devour them.”
Milei traveled to America on Wednesday to meet with Trump and to attend a gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), according to Argentine media reports. He spoke to the president-elect shortly before his departure, a conversation during which, according to Milei spokesman Manuel Adorni, President-elect Trump referred to Milei as his “favorite president.”
Trump has complimented Milei and his conservative policies repeatedly in the past. In an interview with Breitbart News in January, Trump referred to Milei favorably.
“The Argentina guy [Milei] said the greatest guy in the whole world is Donald Trump. He called me right after he won. I had never spoken to him,” Trump narrated. “He called me to thank me. I said, ‘Oh, why do you want to thank me?’ He said, ‘Your policies paved the way for this.’”
“He’s got everything,” Trump continued. “He called me the night he won the election and he thanked me very much—he thanked me profusely. It’s called ‘Make Argentina Great Again.’ He’s got MAGA hats.”