Do we like Javier Milei?
Our score: 2 out of 10. Harmful words and policies on LGBTQ+ people and the climate, a little real good in slower inflation, and an unresolved crypto scandal.
Javier Milei is the libertarian economist turned political outsider who now runs Argentina, and his pitch is freedom from the state. In a 2024 TIME interview he said “I'm the one advocating for your freedom.” His party won about 40.8 per cent of the vote in the October 2025 midterms and jumped from 37 to 101 lower-house seats, so voters haven't been shy. The pages we read are thin on his upbringing, so that's the arc.
The moment that matters most to our readers is Davos in January 2025. He told the room that “in its most extreme versions gender ideology constitutes outright child abuse”, and also said “They are paedophiles, so I want to know who endorses these behaviours.” Critics and the marchers who followed heard that as aimed at LGBTQ+ people. His spokesperson said he was misinterpreted, and Milei suggested the left had deliberately misread him. BlackRock's Larry Fink was reported as outraged.
Then there's what his government did. Per AP, it shut the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, closed the national anti-discrimination institute and banned gender-inclusive language in state bodies. A union said about 105 transgender people lost civil service jobs in three months, within a wider cut of about 15,000 state workers. The government says the layoffs were austerity, not aimed at LGBTQ+ people, and its spokesperson said “The quota does not make much sense.”
On the planet, he told French paper Le Point in February 2025: “I do not agree with the environmentalist agenda, which I consider a complete fraud.” He also said global warming has “nothing to do with human presence” and that he was analysing a Paris Agreement exit. We found no confirmation that Argentina has actually left.
Then there's $LIBRA. In February 2025 Milei posted about a crypto token that spiked and collapsed. A congressional commission estimated 114,410 wallets lost money and said the events were compatible with an “alleged scam”. Milei denies involvement and says he only shared it; his party's members on the commission questioned the report. In March 2026 MercoPress reported that investigators recovered a deleted draft describing an alleged US$5 million arrangement. There's no public proof the government validated it, no charges reported, and the criminal investigation is ongoing.
Austerity is the other stoush. In August 2025 he vetoed bills lifting pensions and disability spending, saying the money wasn't there, while researchers called pensioners the hardest hit by the cuts. Poverty fell to 28.2 per cent in late 2025, then INDEC had it back at 32.3 per cent in early 2026, with unemployment at 7.9 per cent. Chequeado rated his claim of lifting over 12 million people out of poverty as misleading, though it rated true his line that Argentina is the world's most closed economy for its income.