Javier Milei

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Javier Gerardo Milei (1970–), nicknamed El Loco ("the Madman") or El Peluca ("the Wig", due to his terrible hairstyle), is the Trumpian, batshit insane, anarcho-capitalist president of Argentina since 2023. He rode his way into power in the 2023 presidential elections not because he had good policies or political skills, but rather as the "lesser" of two evils for Argentinian citizens exasperated by the corrupt governments and failing economy that preceded him.

However, due to his extreme politics, Milei is part of the problem, not the solution. His victory shows a very dangerous rise in the far-right in their growing political influence in Latin America and globally as well as the broken and corrupt political systems of Latin American countries such as Argentina.^[1]

Rise to power[edit]

So, how the fuck did a rude, misogynistic, mentally unstable, Twitterholic,^[2] chainsaw-wielding,^[3] Donald Trump wannabe and self-proclaimed "tantric sex guru"^[4] who seeks advice from the spirit of his dead dog named Conan^{[5][6][note 1]} and has a more than questionable relationship with his sister^[7][8] become president of Argentina?

Through most of the 21^st century's first two decades, the left-wing Peronist Kirchner family and their associates governed Argentina. After the neoliberal governments of right-wing Peronist Carlos Menem and radical Fernando de la Rúa in the 1990s, which led to a great depression and a violent period of civil unrest and political instability in 2001, Argentina was in quite a dire state. Néstor Kirchner, elected in 2003, managed to get the country out of its foreign debt and brought economic growth. In 2007, Néstor was succeeded by his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who governed until 2015, the year Argentina opted to elect conservative former Buenos Aires mayor and former president of the Boca Juniors football club, Mauricio Macri, over Peronist Daniel Scioli. In 2018, Macri put Argentina in debt again with the IMF after requesting a $45 billion loan (which Macri and his buddies, including Luis Caputo, Milei's Minister of Economy, basically stole).^[9] After Macri was defeated in 2019 by Alberto Fernández (no relation to Cristina, though she was his running mate and thus became vice-president), to get out of that debt, the Central Bank began printing more money, which unleashed monstrous inflation (around 200% per year at the end of 2023)^[10] leaving a poverty rate of over 40% in the country that was once the most prosperous in the Southern Hemisphere^[11] and eroding not only the value of the Argentine Peso, but also the government's popularity.^[12] Instead of keeping spending under control and stopping the wanton printing money, the government decided to cap prices, which of course didn't work.^[13] To make matters worse, Cristina Fernández was found guilty of corruption, and sentenced to six years in prison (although due to executive immunity, she was able to finish her vice presidential term and has appealed her sentence).^[14] Much like another country plagued with poverty and inflation, this all led to massive political polarization among the public (and even an assassination attempt on Cristina), which in turn caused the average Argentinian flock to vote for the rambling far-right lunatic as he was a "lesser evil" in their views compared to the politicians already in charge. It probably did not help matters that the Peronists chose to field Sergio Massa — the goddamn Minister of Economy — as their candidate (as neither Alberto nor Cristina opted to run for reelection), ensuring they would be utterly decimated in the level of Walter Mondale against Ronald Reagan in the U.S. 1984 election by any opposition candidate. Yes, even Milei.^[15]

Extreme policies[edit]

In the immediate time after Milei's inauguration as president, the cost of living continued to rise to unbearable levels. The common Argentine people were obviously discontent with this and began to hold demonstrations and other acts of protest, especially when the new government began to enact intense austerity measures. However, Milei's administration, despite claiming to oppose "government tyranny", decided that instead of addressing these economic hardships in the first place, to instead suppress them using police and other armed forces and to pass laws making it much easier to arrest protestors.^[16][17]

Milei has signed a decree allowing for contracts to be signed in Bitcoin, American currency, and milk of all things. Argentina has long had an "informal dollar economy," and Milei's decree legalizes the informal economy into a "blue dollar market."^[18]

Some of Milei's proposed policies include deregulation of rent, extreme privatization, and the termination of over seven thousand civil service contracts.^[19] Milei's proposed reforms were, unsurprisingly, blocked by an Argentine court.^[19] Milei has also devalued Argentina's currency by 50%, and has enacted huge cuts to funding for public infrastructure and transportation.^[19]

Milei wants to criminalize abortion,^[20] even in cases of rape.^[21]

Milei has also advocated for the free trade (selling) of organs.^[22]

Since his inauguration as president, he has engaged in a heavy crackdown against protestors and dissidents. However, his authoritarian policy was met with an even heavier and more massive protest from the people.^[23]

Despite being a climate change denier,^[24] Milei intends to stay in the Paris Agreement.^[25]

Incoherent ideology[edit]

Typical for an ideologue following something as insanely contradictory as "anarcho"-capitalism, Milei has several conflicting positions and nonsensical solutions that he believes will somehow solve Argentina’s real or imagined problems.^[27]

One example of his policies is gutting social programs for the average citizen, because like most libertarians, he thinks any kind of government assistance is socialism, and therefore evil.^[28] Except, of course, when said assistance goes to the big businesses.

Disdain for leftists[edit]

Perhaps one of his most infamous views that makes him such a bigoted and irredeemable piece of shit is his hatred for leftists. Milei was interviewed and had a hot mic moment where he referred to Argentinian leftists and leftists as a whole, stating “ "I hate communists, shitty left-wingers, because they hate life." He also called the entire left (yes, an entire side with various factions, ideologies, and opinions) an economic, social and cultural failure that murdered 150 million human beings”.^[29] Obviously, this was met with overwhelming praise and applause from the far right online worldwide.^[30]

He also denied that the number of people forcibly disappeared by the military dictatorship (1976–1983) was the commonly accepted 30,000, claiming it was actually a "mere" 8,753 and only due to "excesses". In his ahistorical view, the Dirty War (1974–1983) was not a genocidal, US-sponsored campaign of state terrorism aimed at the systematic extermination of the Argentinian left through kidnappings, disappearances, torture, and mass murder of both revolutionaries and civilians of all ages, but a literal war in which people from both sides died. Unsurprisingly his vice-president is Victoria Villarruel, a vocal genocide denier/apologist whose father and uncle (both in the military) had been accused of human rights violations. How libertarian of him.

Milei again insulted leftists and progressives and compared them to Nazis in a deranged speech at the World Economic Forum.^[31]

Milei has allied with other far-right leaders like Jair Bolsonaro, saying “ I will ally with all those who believe that the left is the enemy.”, basically saying that he will ally with literal fascists and Nazis just to destroy the entire worldwide left. One wonders where he even gained this vitriolic hatred.^[32]

Religion[edit]

Milei praying at the grave of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Lubavitcher Chabad in 2023

Milei compares himself to Moses, frequently makes allusions to the Torah, is affiliated with Chabad Lubavitch (an Orthodox Jewish Zionist cult), and has a rabbi, although he hasn't converted to Judaism yet.

He infamously insulted Pope Francis both on Twitter and on live TV, calling him an "ass", "bad turd", "imbecile", "lefty son of a bitch" and "the Devil's man on Earth", among other things that would make even the edgiest New Atheist cringe. (He also claimed that social justice is a sin, part of his anti-leftist extremism). However, once he became president and actually had to meet with (and embrace) the Pope at The Vatican, Milei cynically backpedaled and described himself as a "Catholic" who also practices "a little Judaism".

Because of this, as well as his radical deregulation policy (which seeks to eliminate a law that prohibits foreign businesses or persons from owning more than 15% of Argentine lands), Milei is a frequent target of antisemitic conspiracy theories. He has been accused by the far-right, ultranationalist wing of Peronism of being an agent of international Zionism whose end goal is the fulfillment of the fabled Andinia Plan–a conspiracy theory according to which (((They))) plan to pull a Nakba in southern Chile and Argentina in order to establish a Jewish state in Patagonia (apparently these guys have been living in a bunker since 1945 and haven't heard of this thing called Israel). As if there weren't hundreds of actual reasons to consider Milei a shitty human being.

Needless to say, Milei is a hardcore Zionist. He probably loves Israel more than his own country, genocide or not.^[33]

Relations with global far-right[edit]

After winning the Argentinian presidential election, Milei was praised by fellow fascists across the world, including Donald Trump in the United States and Giorgia Meloni in Italy. His presidential win has been noted as one of many cases of the phenomena of the growing influence of the far right and fascism in global politics.^[34][35]

See also[edit]

• Naomi Klein § The Shock Doctrine
• Donald Trump, who has similarly awful hair and definitely nothing else in common
• Jair Bolsonaro

Notes[edit]

References[edit]