President Javier Milei is a man willing to fight. More than ever, he relies on that basic instinct now as he tackles generations of stagnation and corruption in Argentina. Presently, he welcomes battles vs. powerful special interests, particularly monopolistic forces in media and telecom.
Those compromised Argentine players unfortunately benefit from unscrupulous assistance from some of the most established platforms in the U.S. legacy media, as well. Perhaps these U.S. media outlets do not grasp the underlying conflict between Milei and his Argentine media opponents?
Whatever the motivations, the turnaround story in Argentina deserves more coverage in the United States. After a full century of tumult, progress is uneven and difficult, to be sure. But after generations of simply hoping that Argentina could change course and reach its inherent potential, Javier Milei arrived at the summit of political power there with a brash plan and a chainsaw as his symbol for needed political upheaval.
Given that political and economic volatility became the default norm in Argentina, the path upward is bumpy and difficult. But progress so far has been astounding on many key measures. For instance, it was recently revealed that poverty in Argentina has been cut nearly in half. As Milei took office a supermajority of his countrymen lived mired in poverty, 53%. Now, that figure drops to 28%.
A huge part of that financial lift flows from taming runaway inflation, a sad Argentine tradition of nearly every prior president. While the rate is still too high at an annualized 30%, price increases have stabilized and plunged from the 200% rate that Milei inherited after his stunning 2023 election upset triumph.
Perhaps the primary driver of both lower poverty and restrained inflation: slashing reckless, profligate government spending. These reforms are not always popular; austerity measures rarely are in the midst of the cuts. But the results are amazing for a country accustomed to a seemingly endless cycle of overextended borrowing followed by inevitable currency devaluations to escape the self-inflicted debt trap.
But under Milei, Argentina achieves something that the United States cannot fathom at present, it boasts government budget surplus. For Argentina, it was the first time in 14 years, and the credit rightly belongs to the unconventional outsider president.
These remarkable economic successes vaulted Milei to big midterm election wins in late 2025. But he has also earned powerful enemies, including the most prominent media conglomerate in Argentina, Clarin Group. For Americans, imagine a Disney combined with News Corp, and perhaps Paramount, too.
Clarin maintains a dominant Argentine market position across every key media vertical including linear television, cable TV, print newspapers, radio broadcasting, and internet service. Clarin also seeks to grow its dominance in telecom through a massive proposed merger with Telefonica that Milei the libertarian opposes, on anti-trust grounds.
As Milei states in his aggressive post on his X account, allowing the mega-merger to proceed would result in 70% of telecom market share controlled by one company. The president explains that the merger would result in “your cell phone, your internet, your phone—everything—would be controlled by the same economic group, which, due to its dominant position, could charge you any price because there would be no competition.”
Not surprisingly, the company sees things differently. What is not very debatable, though, is the constant stream of unrelenting harsh attacks against Milei pouring forth on Clarin platforms on a daily basis. The media empire has declared information warfare against the president.
On this topic, Milei responded that: “When Clarín attacks us, know that this is the reason. They want to control the communications of the entire country. But deep down, they're not attacking me. They're attacking you. I'm just in the middle.” That last part sounds a lot like his populist Right ally in America, no?
Regarding the United States, the legacy media has jumped at every juncture to attack Milei and seems to almost parrot the smears of Clarin Group. Recent hit pieces have emerged in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and in the British-owned Economist and Financial Times, as well.
Given the sudden cluster of such harshly negative pieces, it is difficult to believe that the American echo of the Clarin Group public relations campaign is simply organic. As a longtime media operator and spokesman, it seems clear to me that an orchestrated campaign unfolds, one that seeks to provide a United States media “blessing” upon the aspersions from Clarin within Argentina.
Of course, U.S. outlets have every right to criticize Milei, but they should stick to the merits of policy analysis. If these platforms portend to do real journalism, then they should balance such critiques with honest reporting on his successes, as well.
Moreover, these American outlets should honestly convey to U.S. audiences – many of whom know little about Argentina – that the alternative political opposition to Milei is still dominated by Cristina Kirchner, who sits in her home under house arrest for looting massive sums from the public treasury in her country. In fact, Argentine courts just ruled that she must repay $500 million in stolen funds.
Despite such mammoth corruption, Clarin and its media allies in New York and London seem to prefer a return to that political culture, and those political charlatans. But when presented with the full truth, Argentine voters will surely prefer the governance of an eccentric but effective outsider with a chainsaw, who turns around decades of economic failure. Similarly, in the United States, the legacy media should honestly report on Milei’s record and the internal media war he wages vs. a conglomerate, as he battles to protect the people of Argentina.
Steve Cortes is president of the League of American Workers and advisor to Catholic Vote. He directs political campaigns on media, polling, and Hispanic outreach, including Trump 2016/2020 and Vance 2022 US Senate. He is a former broadcaster for Fox News and CNN.
