From TV to the Casa Rosada in three years: Milei, the Argentine ultraliberal “error”

When in 2020 Javier Milei announced his entry into Argentine politics because he wanted to “get into the system to dynamit it”, few would have ventured that he would even achieve the deputy seat for which he signed up to compete.

Until then, the strident libertarian economist with the wild hairstyle was part of the ranks of commentators in the world of television, where, far from politics, he preached against the State, praising Al Capone or furiously destroying a piñata of the Argentine central bank.

However, three years later – already as a national deputy – the 53-year-old self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist managed to win a presidential runoff on Sunday with 55.7% of the votes against 44.3% for the candidate of the powerful ruling Peronism.

With inflation that would close the year above 180%, net foreign exchange reserves in the red and an unstable local currency, 2023 seems to crown a long path of economic and social deterioration that crosses the governments of the two main political forces: Peronism and the conservative Together for Change (JxC).

In this context of growing discontent with the traditional parties, Milei and her La Libertad Avanza movement (LLA) achieved a rise as dramatic as it was unexpected, which has been compared to that of Donald Trump in the United States and that of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, both for their political ‘marginal’ status and for their far-right agendas.

“We will put an end to the parasitic, thieving, useless political caste that is sinking this country“Milei said in reference to Peronism and JxC after his great performance in the August primaries, an unexpected symbolic victory that blew up Argentina’s bipartisan logic of recent decades.

The campaign, strongly supported on social networks and with wide impact among the young population, was built on promises of dollarization of the Argentine economy, “burn” to the central bank and eliminate public works or ideas such as the commercialization of organ transplants.

After obtaining a second place in the first presidential round in October, Milei faced the current Minister of Economy, the experienced Sergio Massa, on Sunday in a definition that until recently no analyst would have considered feasible and that did not have a clear favorite.

Chainsaws, dogs and Thatcher

“If Javier combed his hair neatly, if Javier didn’t get angry, would they ever have invited him to speak?“Diana Mondino, an LLA economist who could be the next Argentine foreign minister, told Reuters before the runoff.

In addition to his strikingly unkempt hair, Milei has appeared at dozens of campaign events wielding a chainsaw as a symbol of the fiscal adjustment he plans to apply or with a giant $100 bill with his face in the place of the founding politician of the United States Benjamin Franklin.

But Milei’s eccentricity is not limited to his campaign props, nor his impact on Argentina.

Last month, comedian John Oliver dedicated a parody segment of his program on the American network HBO to the ultra-liberal candidate, citing, among different topics, a Reuters article about the economist’s eccentric relationship with his dogs, which he has considered the “best strategists in the world”.

The former commentator once again generated controversy when he said during a debate with Massa that former English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a “great leader” and compared her to French soccer star Kylian Mbappé.

Argentina had a brief war with England in 1982 for control of the Malvinas Islands, an archipelago 460 kilometers off the Argentine coast. Thatcher was Prime Minister of England during the conflict that the United Kingdom won and is a highly resisted figure in the southern country.

Milei, who in the elections had the presence of members of the Spanish far-right Vox and a son of Bolsonaro in his camp, has also said that he would limit diplomatic relations with China and Brazil, Argentina’s main trading partners, because he does not “dealings with communists”.

The error”

In an interview with Reuters in 2022, Milei said that ““For the logic of politics, I am a mistake, because precisely what I come to do is kick your privileges.”

““I don’t care who my rival is in the runoff, I beat them all.”he added.

The libertarian had to overcome the difference that Massa made against him in the October general elections, when the moderate Peronist obtained 36.7% of the votes and he 30%.

The open support of the JxC candidate played in her favor, who was left out of the runoff after obtaining only 23.8% of the votes in October and allied herself with Milei, despite the fact that he had called her “murderess” for his militant past in the turbulent 1970s.

“Milei manages to recover something that was half lost at this moment in Argentine politics, which is that it offers some kind of hope“Juan González, a journalist who published a biography of Milei called “El loco,” told Reuters, which this year became a publishing success.

“He is an unstable leader“said the journalist who conducted numerous interviews with the LLA leader and his inner circle. “It is an unstable country”he added.