DOGE should push its cuts 'to the very limit,' says Argentine president who inspired Musk and Ramaswamy
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- Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-heads of DOGE, are working out how to cut the federal government.
- Javier Milei, the Argentine leader who both men have praised, advised cutting to 'the very limit.'
- Milei closed nine ministries, firing thousands of officials, and cut spending by an estimated 31%.
Argentina's president says Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy should all go "all the way" in cutting US federal spending.
Javier Milei made the comments in an episode of the Lex Fridman podcast released on Tuesday.
"My advice would be for them to go all the way, to push it to the very limit, and do not give up," he said. "Do not let down their guard."
Milei has presided over sweeping spending cuts in Argentina, firing tens of thousands of public employees, shutting down half the country's 18 ministries, and cutting state spending by an estimated 31% in his first 10 months in office.
The measures have helped bring inflation down from 25.5% when he took office in December 2023 to 2.7% in October.
But they have also ignited a recession and mass civil unrest, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets and unions holding regular strikes across the country.
"Just cut to the chase. Cut to the chase," Milei told Fridman when asked what advice he had for Musk and Ramaswamy.
Both Musk and Ramaswamy have repeatedly praised Milei and taken inspiration from him for their Department of Government Efficiency.
On Wednesday, Musk said Argentina had made "impressive progress,'" while Ramaswamy said on Monday that the US needed "Milei-style cuts on steroids."
On Sunday, Ramaswamy told Fox News that he expected the wholesale closure of some federal agencies — a measure that mirrors that taken by Milei in Argentina.
Milei and Musk have long spoken admiringly of one another and were together at President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort last week.
The two men met for the first time in April at Musk's Tesla plant in Austin, where they discussed free markets and their opposition to bureaucracy, according to a statement from Milei's office.
In an X post in September, Musk said his companies were "actively" looking for ways to invest in and support Argentina after the two men met on the sidelines of a United Nations summit in New York held at the time.
While Milei has achieved most of his sweeping cuts via executive decree, US spending cuts would likely involve working with Congress, where Republicans will hold just a slim majority.