Argentine President Javier Milei attended the final session of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 24, the highlight of which was his brief backstage encounter with Donald Trump. He was so overcome with emotion at the meeting that he ran to embrace Trump, gushing how honored he was to meet him, how grateful he was for his kind words, how generous Trump had been to him, ad nauseam. “You are a great President and I hope you win,” he told Trump. “I hope we meet again, next time [when you are] President.” Trump made a special mention of Milei during his speech, saying “you know, he’s MAGA, Make Argentina Great Again,” and “I realize he’s one of the few who can make that happen.”
Milei had flown up to Washington following his Feb. 23 meeting with Secretary of State Tony Blinken who kept telling him that the U.S. and Argentina can be great partners in so many ways, and how much the Biden administration wants to help Argentina achieve economic stabilization through its IMF program. The U.S., he said, wants to be Argentina’s “partner of choice” in the world—i.e., forget about China or Russia. According to one report, U.S. Ambassador Marc Stanley, a wealthy Democrat who was rewarded with that post for donating big bucks to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, suggested to Milei that he cancel his appearance at CPAC, warning it would be “too political.”
