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Editorial: Milei’s Peronization

El Sobrante

MAY 25, 2026

By Ezequiel Gil Lezama

The end of Blade Runner (1982), a cult film by the great Ridley Scott, is probably among the best endings in the history of cinema.

Poetic, ambiguous, and profound, the ending focuses on the words of Roy, the leader of the replicants, after chasing Harrison Ford’s character (Deckard) to a rooftop, who has the mission of hunting the replicants. Roy, instead of killing Deckard when he hangs from the roof, saves his life and, with his existence fading away (replicants have a useful period of life), delivers the iconic monologue under an all-encompassing rain:

«I’ve seen things that you could never have imagined.

Combat ships in flames beyond Orion.

I’ve seen C-rays glow in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.

All those moments will be lost in time… like tears in the rain. It’s time to die.«

As if the gesture of saving the life of the man who tried to kill him were not enough, the words of Roy, who is supposed to be a machine, a tool, prove that he has experienced wonders that no ordinary human has seen. His memories are real to him, even if they are artificial.

In his final moments, Roy shows empathy and compassion in saving his enemy. He becomes more «human» than many humans in the film by reversing roles.

Far from Scott’s philosophical disquisitions in that wonderful film, a similar phenomenon occurs in our country: sooner or later, some resemble each other because, in essence, one is the other. That is to say, liberalism does not exist, nor ever existed, in Argentina. Milei, then, is no exception. Let’s see.

If he has dog ears and barks like a dog…

Every government in this country, regardless of its ideology, ends in «populism».

From Julio Argentino Roca, through the Generation of the ’80s, Carlos Pellegrini and his ferocious interventionism, to the conservative liberals of the Infamous Decade, who laid the foundations for the subsequent nationalization of foreign trade through the Regulatory Boards (Meat and Grains), the strict control of the foreign exchange and foreign exchange market,  the subsidization of imports to start Industrialization by Import Substitution and reaching the ultra-liberal Adalbert Krieger Vasena with taxes on agricultural exports of 25% or, even, Martínez de Hoz himself.

That is to say, there was no government of liberal ideology that did not have a strong state intervention in the economy.

That is, in Argentina, there is no liberalism; there is more open-minded and fiscalist populism, there is more protectionist populism, and expansion of public spending.

In other words, every government, no matter what it thinks or wants, ends up doing «Peronism.»

Why? Because Peronism is not only the current related to the Justicialist Party, it exceeds the party framework. Peronism is, above all, the necessary political expression that the particular reproduction of capital in Argentina takes. In other words, «Peronism» is the necessary political form that the existence of capital takes.

Of course, as we have said many times, since the Argentine economic cycle moves to the swing of the world cycle of capital, when the prices of agricultural products rise, we have classic Peronist governments with expansion of public spending, expansion of capital, increase in the demand for labor, and recovery of wages. But when prices collapse, we have «Peronist» governments, of liberal ideology, that adjust spending, liquidate the most inefficient capital, the demand for labor falls, wages fall until they manage to take on debt and «peromize» (the dictatorship of sweet silver, Menem, Macri 2016-17).

Inevitably, every government of liberal ideology, although they carry out trade openings and lowers tariffs on imports, sooner or later, returns to the populist fold and never dispenses with state interventionism in the economy or breaks protectionism.

For a simple reason, because no matter what they think or the ideology they have, since, as we said, «Peronism» is the political form that the existence of capital in Argentina takes, that is, Peronism is capital, they are obliged to take the measures that maintain the economic structure that sustains the bulk of the population.

This is why liberalism does not exist; this is why Milei is moving towards Peronization (1).

Another return to Hugo del Carril’s vinyl

Milei’s economic plan, no matter how audacious it may be according to its objective of breaking the Argentine economic cycle that is reproducing itself in a downward spiral, has failed miserably.

The first quarter of the year continues to draw the saw with a month of fall and another of rise.

In this sense, January showed an improvement of 0.4% compared to December, and February registered a month-on-month contraction of 2.6,% and March grew again by 3.5% compared to the previous month.

However, beyond the fact that the macro numbers are still «good» for the government (trade surplus of 8 billion dollars in three months – expansion of exports by 20%, contraction of imports by 8% -, primary fiscal surplus, inflation falling in April after ten months, economic expansion in the first quarter of 1.7%),  That does not imply that it will have an impact on the street. Above all, because as we said in the previous editorial, economic growth is not only uneven (it grows in the energy and agricultural sectors, falls in manufacturing, commerce,ce and construction) but the winning sectors do not demand labor while those that lose are responsible for the bulk of employment. Even the Riwas are registered in construction. Manufacturing and trade. In the month of March, if we compare with November 2023, construction is 10 points down,n and manufacturing is 20% down compared to 2023.

In addition to the fall in wages, pover, ty and the contraction of consumption, there is the fear of unemployment, and this, so far, is channeled into depression and social sadness. And, of course, it erodes the social support of the ruling party, which, as usually happens in these cases, to top it all off, puts even the balls that go outside the goal: Adorni, Menem-Caputo inside, and Milei’s audios.

However, the red flags shown by the polls force us to put our good intentions aside, turn on the record player,r and give another spin to the eternal vinyl of Hugo Del Carril and the stainless march of capital.

The contraction of consumption and the recession threaten the fall in revenue, which threatens Milei’s deity: fiscal balance. In addition, as the Minister of Economy, Toto Caputo, has already warned, there is no room to continue adjusting.

Therefore, the government of Milei, the chainsaw candidate, is making a U-turn.

Public spending, according to the budget changes in May, grows at 1.5% year-on-year in real terms.

It sounds little, but if we look at some items, we find a 180% real increase in energy subsidies in the first quarter, 64% in infrastructure, 65.4% in the Universal Allowance, Goods and services 47%, and pensions a 3.6% real increase. In other words, the champion of the largest adjustment in history and the chainsaw to the state appeals to the expansion of public spending to prevent blood from reaching the river, increasingly believing that the famous investors may not arrive and surrender to the fact that next year’s inflation will be, again, in double digits.

And what is the other move to try to get the plan afloat? Negotiate with the IMF, follow the right path, and bet that the country risk will collapse to agree to take on debt. Everything is at stake there, and the question is whether it is enough because the damage and the crisis are deep, to such an extent that 2026 already seems to be played. We abstract from the resolution of the war in Iran, because a resumption of the conflict blackens everything.

Ouch, 2027

Milei’s fall in the polls, the social weariness that is in the air managed to wake up the opposition, there is Macri, who broke with the government, and tries to recreate Together for Change to have a platform that sponsors the elected one (Villarruel).

There, too, is Peronism with a red-hot internal and the need to change the discourse according to the content (the flag of fiscal balance is pointing) and the temptation to put together, Lula-style, a great national front to defeat Milei.

With Cristina unable to veto candidates or impose names, because she cannot threaten to run with her own list and win the PASO, the internal one seems more oriented between Kicillof and the Peronism of the governors (Uñac, Llaryora), given that Massa would go to the provinces. In any case, even Kirchnerism, no matter how much they feign and escalate the internal one, Peronism will end up unified behind a candidate because Milei is in front of him.

And if the social situation continues to worsen, the greater the unity and the chances of winning, no matter how much the discourse must change, militarize fiscal prolixity and distribute polenta because the crisis is severe and the market, as the 2028 bonds prove, distrusts Peronism.

Thus, in the country of volatility, the electoral campaign seems to be brought forward a year and a half earlier in a clear sign of two things: weariness and low social conflict that blocks any appeal to street fighting and the wet Jacobin dreams of some. It is not the bourgeoisie, it is the working class itself that imposes the «electoral solution».

Anyway, as in life, you don’t sell the bear’s skin before you hunt it. That is, Milei maintains significant social support,t and it should not be ruled out that an economic improvement will drag down that15-20% of people who vote without ideology. That is, Milei maintains competitiveness and, most importantly, dominates the agenda in tune with the content: with a Peronism that tries to raise the flag of fiscal prolixity, everything indicates that the political scenario will go from the center to the «right.»

There is Milei for a while, with or without him.

Notes

1.- To see Milei’s Peronization in more detail, I leave a column for August 2023: