“An elephant passed in front of us and we did not see it” is the headline of a piece in Clarin, Argentina’s largest newspaper, after Javier Milei took 30% of the vote at last week’s open primaries, beating mainstream candidates on the left and right and putting himself in the position to possibly win the presidency in the general election in October.
In the midst of economic chaos in the country, the lowest voter turnout since the country started holding primary elections delivered a stinging and thoroughly unexpected rebuke to the the center-left Peronist coalition and the main conservative bloc centred around the Together for Change party.
“Milei’s growth is a surprise. This speaks of people’s anger with politics,” former conservative president Mauricio Macri said on election night.
You may argue it is lazy shorthand to dub every eccentric far-right populist as “X’s Trump”, and we in the bunker agree — indeed, there are marked policy differences between the two. However, Milei was dismissed as a daytime-TV buffoon with no serious bona fides, working his way through the election with outlandish and unworkable policy platforms, until he defied the establishment, the media and the pollsters to win. So it all sounds a little familiar.
He’s an anarcho-capitalist
A radical libertarian economist with hair that recalls murder trial era Phil Spector on a relatively quiet day, Milei had achieved notoriety on the talk-show circuit in his home country over the past few years, as much for his work as a tantric sex coach as for his right-wing theories of economics. He eventually founded the Liberty Advances party and parlayed his celebrity into a seat in the lower house of congress in 2021.
Milei believes the country’s central bank should be abolished and wants to essentially replace Argentina’s plummeting local currency, the peso, with the US dollar. He plans to bin Argentina’s health, education and environment ministries, and doesn’t plan on stopping there — via YouTube he promised: “Culture ministry — out! Environment – out! Ministry of women and gender diversity — out! Public works — out! Science — out! Labour and social security — out! Ministry of education and indoctrination — out!”
His libertarianism extends as far as organ trade (should be “just another market”) but not, curiously, as far as freedom of choice when it comes to abortion. He also advocates a ban on sex education in school. Typical of his ilk, he rails against “cultural Marxism”, gender ideology, apparent “indoctrination” happening in public education, and the “socialist lie” that is climate change.
And while his anti-politics stance has seen him unleash florid rhetoric at the “establishment”, there are some parts of the mainstream he’s less vituperative towards — his running mate, Victoria Villarruel, has been accused of denialism regarding her long public advocacy defending the murderous dictatorships led by Jorge Videla and Leopoldo Galtieri.
His colourful rhetoric
He has promised this election will put an end “to the parasitic, larcenous, useless caste that is sinking the country”. He has called Argentina’s central bank “the worst garbage that exists on this earth”. As has become his custom, he dedicated the victory in the primary to his dead dog Conan and three surviving dogs.
Indeed, the late Conan is very important to him — to the point that he doesn’t deny communicating spiritually with his dead dog to ask it for political advice.
Look at that photo! He should be on Sky After Dark.
That’s one angry dude.
More like the lead in the old Friday midnight TV monster flick.
Can anyone recall the name of the woman topping & tailling the late night Creature Feature – Ch 7 possibly – late last century?
Not Vampirella though she gave that vibe, except for the impressive embonpoint.
Elvirah?
Thanks, though without the H.
My failing memory, clearly wrong, was that there was a local franchise and it was on Ch 10, not 7.
I can find only “Cassandra Peterson as Elvira gained iconicity as a gothically-erotic, Morticia Addams-styled horror hostess in TV show Movie Macabre (1981-1993), with her satirical wit and comical charm countervailing her spooky appearance.”
a failed cosmetic surgery job?
He makes Trump appear semi-reasonable ?.
A dog-botherer …. looks likes a heavily made-up Dave Hughes?
…. As “anti-establishment” as Trump and Rupert?
The thing with people like this that I don’t get is, once they have abolished all government and given their country the sort of freedom we see in Somalia or Sudan, what do they then do?
I’m not defending him, but there’s no sign in this article he wants to abolish ALL government. The reserve bank is obviously not popular with inflation over 100%. Replacing the peso with US dollars might work – it seems to have done in Zimbabwe.
Intentions seem pretty clear:
“Culture ministry — out! Environment – out! Ministry of women and gender diversity — out! Public works — out! Science — out! Labour and social security — out! Ministry of education and indoctrination — out!”
So no environmental regulation, no public works, no labour regulation, not social security, no public education.
On his Wikipedia page: “Milei envisions eventually dismantling the state and the Central Bank of Argentina”.
So what on earth does he expect to end up governing?
Fanatics rarely think their cunning plans all the way through.
If he gets in, Argentina will become like the jungle. Survival of the fittest will be the name of the game.
It’s strange how as a libertarian he wants to reduce the government to the size of a thimble but want so ban abortions. What happened to his libertarian urges with regard to free will. He simply wants to be a dictator; it’s my way or the highway (or jail).
It appears that the Argentinians make the same mistake Australians do………………….
…………reserve banks can only do so much to hold inflation down, and without active government intervention, once they have reached the limit of their effectiveness further rate increases only exacerbate the situation.
At 97%, the interest rates in Argentina obviously hit the limit of effectiveness some years ago.
Zimbabwe gave up on dollarization some years ago…………..
………..the economy is still a disaster-zone.
It’s more like a barter economy now, and the “government” (incredibly, worse than Morrison’s) makes repeated threats to raid the bank accounts of exporters to get hold of foreign currency! (ANY foreign currency…… dictators don’t come cheap)
I’d say this loony probably has not the slightest interest in actually running the country…………..
………..just getting his hands on the cash flow.
Leave.
Or live in a walled compound protected by a (state funded, undoubtedly) private security force.
From the look of him, eat the corpses, raw.
The Pinochet-Kissinger-Chile-Chicago (Buchanan) School, which many in the Anglosphere promote?
Argentina used to be dollarised during the 1990s, a major contributor to the millenium recession and political instability. As with most bad ideas, there’s always someone later willing to believe it was actually a good idea, just executed badly.
Can we be clear, though, Milei is not Argentina’s Trump. Trump is America’s Perón.