When President Javier Milei first met Donald Trump, he was starstruck.

“President!” he cried, grabbing both the Republican magnate’s arms and staring straight into his eyes, grinning broadly. “Thank you for your work for me,” Milei said. “I’m very happy.” In the background, the Village People anthem, YMCA, was pumping.

As soon as Milei finished speaking, Trump quickly scanned the room for a camera, looked into one, and said: “MAGA — Make Argentina Great Again.” Only then did Milei let him go.

It was February 2024 in Maryland, US. Both leaders were attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual right-wing gathering first held in 1974. Trump had not yet been elected for a second term.

Trump and Milei have met several times since, and the Argentine was the first world leader to meet with Trump after his electoral victory last November. But of all their encounters, none was as crucial for the relationship as a lunch at the Oval Office of the White House, where they discussed details of a U.S. lifeline to Argentina that could total over US$40 billion.

During the one-hour televised meeting, Milei spoke for just three minutes. “I feel very honored, especially at this moment in which, under your great leadership, President Trump, you have accomplished peace in the Middle East,” the Argentine president said in Spanish, his back to the camera. Only after he had finished speaking did Trump ask if an interpreter was present to explain Milei’s “important, profound statement” to the room — but none was forthcoming, and he moved on. None of the questions from the crowd of journalists present were directed at the Argentine leader.

The optics of that lunch and previous public appearances suggest that, while both men are world leaders, Trump does not see this as a relationship between equals.

“It is a relationship that........

© Buenos Aires Herald