Javier Milei, the porcupine with a chainsaw, shaking up Argentina: Viv Vermaak

Key topics:

• Milei cuts government, slashes departments, and fires 5,000 workers.

• US bailout fuels libertarian experiment amid economic reform in Argentina.

• Libertarianism clashes with politics: individuality vs democracy’s numbers.

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By Viv Vermaak*

Once upon a time, there was a porcupine with a chainsaw. His quills were sharp, standing by to pierce anyone who might offend his multiple sensitivities, which were also always at the ready. His chainsaw was shiny, and he loved swinging it about.

The porcupine wondered about many things: how spikey his barbs were, how shrill his saw. But mostly, he wondered why none of the other creatures wanted to play with him.

Javier Milei, the much-televised Argentinian President, is in the spotlight as people watch the great libertarian experiment unfold. His reign is known for smaller government, austerity, bold individualism—and a massive bailout from the US. The latter is not a good look for libertarianism, which prides itself on autonomy and self-sufficiency. Yet Milei has turned a deficit of five percent of GDP in 2023 into a small surplus in 2025. Inflation is down from 200% to 30%. Alongside this, his economic liberalization agenda has been ambitious, including sweeping deregulation, widespread privatisation, and a downsizing of the state’s role in the economy. Milei’s promise to slash government is what made him popular to begin with. In his first 100 days in office, he axed government departments and fired 5,000 government workers. In a famous performance, he made a video where he dramatically took the lists of government departments from a chart on a white board and physically tossed them out: “Afuera! Afuera! Afuera!” (“Out! Out! Out!”)

It made him a hero at home, an icon in intellectual circles, and a hit on social media. The mythical world of Rothbard, Hayek, and Von Mises had come to life in a character that had burst onto the stage with a chainsaw.

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The downsizing of the state’s role in Argentina runs concurrently with an upsizing of the US’s role. Further, the $40 billion bailout sits atop a $20bn loan from the IMF, to which Argentina remains the largest debtor. Continued US support is dependent on Milei winning the recent mid-term elections, which, in turn, were dependent on US support. Trump claimed that “Milei had a lot of help from us. He had a lot of help.” Milei has described the US bailout as “something unprecedented, not only in Argentine history but in world history, because the US has never offered support of such magnitude”. At election rallies in Argentina, Trump’s face was carried on placards alongside Milei’s, and in some, he walks Milei like a dog.

Not everyone trusts the intentions of the US overlord as pure and neighbourly. Some claim this interventionism and currency-swapping technically qualifies what Milei is doing as ‘libertarianism.’ This certainly stands in contrast to Milei’s internal style, which is known for his ‘governing alone’, without allies. His recent win in the mid-term elections was significant, but it was not an outright win. He will have to negotiate with governors outside his coalition, including those from more moderate parties, to get enough support to pass laws and reforms in Congress. For now, though, ‘I am the King of a Lost World’, he sang triumphantly, belting out the death metal song to his fans in Buenos Aires as he celebrated victory.

Libertarianism is a difficult concept to define, even at its own conferences and think-tank circles. Generally, it is typified as a move towards smaller government, as well as a higher focus on individualism, compared with group rights. In this context, Milei is a striking figurehead. He is cinematic, as comfortable on the stage at the WEF as a potential villain in a woke Batman movie. His fans call him the ‘madman’.  So do his opponents. He has wild hair, flamboyant uniforms, and dogs with interesting names. He is an intellectual: eloquent, clever, and passionate in discourse. Libertarianism is the ultimate philosophy for the individual. It is tolerant of uniqueness and extremes, all in the name of personal freedom. A former US presidential candidate includes Joe Exotic, a gay zookeeper known to be fond of mullet hairstyles, a penchant for guns, tigers, and hiring hitmen to murder competitors. He is currently serving prison time for the latter. Camille Paglia, prominent transsexual feminist and academic, is also a strident libertarian. Yet, in contrast to Exotic, Paglia’s intellectual pedigree is outstanding, and she has influenced much of modern feminism and thoughts about the nature of the individual in society.

Definitely, libertarianism is a home for the ‘punctuation personality’, to the extent that some prominent libertarian thinkers have suggested this urge for freedom is the result of a genetic mutation, as it’s so rare and special. In an artist, philosopher or rock star, this distinctiveness is a great attribute. In politics and managing large groups of people, it becomes problematic, which the porcupine will realise when he has to cross the choppy seas in a sailing ship with others. If Trump stops fueling the emergency motor, the porcupine will soon discover that you cannot bend the wind with a chainsaw. Democracy is about volume. It is a game of numbers and majorities. You set the sails as widely as you can and steer firmly, but with a soft touch. The winds of change and the ebb and flow of human fickleness are volatile, fluid, and change direction with little advance warning. Milei has some sense of this, as he astutely did not cut all social grants and government support when he took office. Further, he knows that Trump’s unprecedented handout will become a big thumbs -down if he loses elections.

It is perhaps unfair that Milei has been designated as the fall guy for libertarianism. What is ‘real libertarianism, implemented properly’, anyway? No political system ever delivers on its own definition. Maybe our error is in holding any ideology up to itself. As Thomas Sowell said, “Intellectuals have theories that do not fit the real world. From this, they conclude that it is the real world which is wrong and needs changing.” Voters have the same make-believe stories about politics. Yet change still happens; not quite in the way we think or the way it is reported, but world orders shift, and all of us have something to do with it.

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In our fable, as in the Argentinian fairytale, the porcupine might come to realise that his barbs are not the only prickly things around. Pitchforks are also sharp. The hungrier they are, the more they sting. Pitchforks like having food and jobs, so when economic indicators don’t translate into fuller tummies and more financial stability, they get upset. And when the pitchforks come, and they outnumber the chainsaws by100 to one, it will be the porcupine who is saying, ‘Out! Out! Out!”

*Viv Vermaak is an award-winning investigative journalist, writer and director. She was the most loved and hated presenter on South Africa’s iconic travel show, “Going Nowhere Slowly’ and ranks being the tall germ, “Terie’ in Mina Moo as a career highlight. She does Jiu-Jitsu and has a ’69 Chevy Impala called Katy Peri-Peri. Vermaak's Podcast Report is a monthly feature on the Daily Friend Show, and appears monthly in the Daily Friend as a column.

This article was first published by Daily Friend and is republished with permission