OXON HILL, Md. — Argentina’s President Javier Milei on Saturday urged an enthusiastic crowd of U.S. conservatives to keep supporting measures to shrink the size of their government, saying his methods are similar to those undertaken by President Donald Trump and close ally Elon Musk.
Milei is the man behind the chainsaw waved effusively onstage by Musk, in perhaps the most memorable single moment at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, held in suburban Maryland.
In a Saturday speech in Spanish, Milei expressed support for the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, saying it is out of line with the president’s agenda and claiming it was wasteful.
“The only rational path is to shrink the size of the state as much as possible,” Milei said. “Reducing the size of the State is in itself an act of justice.”
Trump, in his remarks at the gathering, praised Milei. “We’re very proud of you,” he said.
Milei quoted in his speech an influential libertarian intellectual from Pennsylvania, Albert J. Nock, who wrote in his 1935 book “Our Enemy, the State” about the struggle between state power and social power.
“Our method is similar to that of our dear friend Elon Musk,” Milei said. “To go office by office, keep in place what is working and get rid of the rest. That’s why I gave him a chainsaw.”
The Argentine leader used a different chainsaw as a prop during his 2023 campaign to symbolize his proposals to shred the bloated state. The red chainsaw gifted to Musk was engraved with Milei’s slogan “Viva la libertad, carajo,” which is Spanish for “Long live liberty, damn it.”
When Musk first began toying with the idea of forming a taskforce to downsize the federal workforce during an interview with Trump on X last August, they both talked about the Argentine leader. Musk praised his extreme austerity measures that had laid off tens of thousands of public sector workers and cut pensions to reverse spending that caused the country to default on its debts.
Milei also attended CPAC last year and met with Trump backstage, exchanging a close hug. Milei was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump after he won the election, but before he took office. Milei was also invited to the inauguration on Jan. 20.
In a video message later Saturday, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni defended the central role of Europe and its crucial relationship with the United States.
“I know you can perceive Europe as distant and lost, but I can tell you it’s not,” said Meloni, who is seen as a key Trump ally in Europe.
She reaffirmed her support for Kyiv, saying Ukrainians are bravely fighting against “a brutal aggression” from Moscow.
Trump sent top foreign policy advisers to Saudi Arabia for direct talks with Russian officials on Tuesday that did not include Ukrainian or European officials. Trump has falsely suggested that Ukraine started war, though on Friday he acknowledged that Moscow had attacked its neighbor. Russia launched its invasion in Febrary 2022.
Before his address, Trump met with Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, praising Poland’s commitment to increase defense spending and acknowledging the countries’ close alliance, according to the White House.
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Associated Press writer Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.