The most disruptive episode occurred this Thursday the 26th, when the President decided to break lances with the main captains of Argentine industry. Under the accusation of being "criminals" and part of a "corrupt system," Milei fired a barrage of derogatory nicknames that shook the business sector. Figures such as Paolo Rocca, CEO of Techint, were rebranded from the central power as "Don Chatarrín of the expensive tubes," while Javier Madanes Quintanilla, from the Fate firm—recently hit by layoffs and partial closures—was mockingly referred to as "Don Gomita." Roberto Méndez from Neumen was labeled as "Mr. Loose Tongue." These attacks are not mere anecdotes; they represent the break in the relationship with the traditional productive sector, which the Government now accuses of generating "inflation out of greed" to divert attention from the drop in consumption and the recession.
This climate of hostility is also felt in the streets and in the relationship with institutions. The resignation of Marco Lavagna from INDEC earlier this month, after denouncing pressures to delay the implementation of a new CPI that reflected inflation figures higher than desired, has left a stain of suspicion over the Government's statistical transparency. The suspicion that the Central Bank and the Executive have begun to "manipulate" numbers to sustain the narrative of economic success is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, especially when the average citizen notices that grocery prices do not match the official graphics that the President compulsively posts.
Meanwhile, in Congress, the preliminary approval of the Glacier Law in the Senate was achieved under suffocating pressure on governors. The strategy was clear: financial suffocation for provinces that did not align and promises of fiscal "air" for those that supported the dismantling of environmental protection in favor of the RIGI. However, this legislative victory is overshadowed by increasing violence against the press. During the protest days, the harassment of reporters and cameramen, labeled as "purchased" by the President himself, resulted in physical assaults by security forces and militants, in a systematic attempt to silence any record that deviated from the narrative of "freedom."
The question lingering in the air is whether an economic model can be viable when its only engine is exclusion and its only fuel is hatred and contention. How much predictability can a model that relies on verbal abuse and economic suffocation of all sectors provide? With a positive image that has already pierced the floor of 40% and a negative image close to 60%, society is beginning to see presidential attacks as a distraction maneuver in the face of hunger; the Government seems to be shutting itself in its own bubble of confrontation. Governing under the logic of a permanent ring may yield some trends on social media, but it is unlikely to cover up the fact that, outside the ring, Argentine reality is running out of breath while coexisting with a climate of senseless conflict and polarization.
Business owners are not mere "actors in the system," but responsible for thousands of jobs and a value chain that Milei seems determined to sacrifice at the altar of indiscriminate import opening. It is ironic that Paolo Rocca, who was a key supporter of the Government's consolidation and an enthusiast of labor reform, is today the target of a digital smear campaign for defending the competitiveness of his supplies against the Chinese onslaught.
Here lies the greatest contradiction of the current management. Milei embraces the figure of Trump, a leader whose economic program is based on "America First," on protecting its industries with aggressive tariffs, and on promoting local employment. However, "Argentinian Trumpism" seems to be exactly the opposite: an invitation for national industry to sink under the weight of unequal competition while the State neglects the social consequences. The President seems to ignore that his northern reference would never allow his factories to close due to a dogmatism of free market principles that the United States itself has already abandoned.
The situation at Fate is the most painful example of this experiment. After being forced to drastically reduce its operations and lay off hundreds of workers due to the massive influx of Chinese tires at bargain prices, the presidential response was mockery and the accusation of "criminals" against its owners. It is a scenario where the success of the model is measured by the amount of cheap imports, regardless of the destruction of the human and technical capital that took decades to build.
Governing a country as if it were a digital discussion forum is having a real cost in closed factories and homes without income. The pretense of being a "pro-market" government clashes head-on with the reality of an internal market that is suffocating. If Milei's mirror is truly the United States under Trump, the distortion is total: the original protects its workers and strategic entrepreneurs, while the Argentine copy seems determined to sacrifice them to win a cultural battle on social media. The result is not a freer economy, but a poorer and more dependent nation.
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