Public image of Javier Milei
Javier Milei, the president of Argentina since 2023, has cultivated a complex and controversial public image marked by a blend of populist, right-wing libertarian, and conservative ideologies.
Despite criticism and controversies, Milei's advocacy for economic liberalism, fiscal conservatism, and reduced government intervention, alongside his anti-establishment image, has resonated with a segment of the Argentine electorate frustrated with traditional political structures that brought him to the presidency.
[4] Notable moments in Milei's political campaign included a viral video of him tearing cards from a wallboard with the names of ministries that he wants to abolish and tossing them into the air as he said afuera ("out of the way"),[5] wielding a chainsaw on stage,[6] smashing a piñata on air to symbolize his plans, calling Pope Francis "a filthy leftist", and praising American gangster Al Capone as "a hero".
[8][9] He has consistently said that he does not comb his hair, leading to significant press attention, [10] as well as comparisons to fellow right-wing populists Boris Johnson, Donald Trump,[11] and Geert Wilders.
[2][3][25] In the book's preface, González wrote: "With the passing of the months, the interviews, the off-the-record meetings, following invoices, stamps, and paperwork, the work went from being a field one with almost academic edges to a tragicomic thriller, halfway between Raymond Chandler's black noirs and John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces.
[27] He achieved notoriety and public exposure through his debates and statements on the television programmes of various channels in Argentina, which led him to pursue a political career in 2021.
[37][38][39] For his columns, he was accused of having plagiarized the main authors of the Austrian School,[40] such as Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, and Walter Block.
As a result, he argued that "paleolibertarian (conservative libertarian)" or "anarcho-capitalist", namely someone who believes in a form of stateless free-market capitalism, or that society can be organized and function only with the market without the need for the state, are more appropriate labels to describe Milei's politics.
"[66] Benjamin Gedan, director of the Argentina Project at the Washington-based Wilson Center, said: "Far-right figures are giddy about Milei's victory and will attempt to recruit him to their global movement.
"[65] Pointing to Milei's clearer outsider persona, his being a more ideologue than Trump, and a right-wing economic libertarian and opponent of protectionism, Gabriel Vommaro, a sociologist and political analyst based in Argentina, stated that it would be a mistake to make the comparison "without taking into account local particularities.
Thus, Gerardo Munck, an Argentine professor of international relations at the University of Southern California, asked: "The problem with Milei is that he is likely to be weak rather than very strong.
"[65] While in the words of Cristóbal Rovira, a professor of political science at the Catholic University of Chile, "Milei has a libertarian component that makes him a rare creature compared to the ultra-right of Latin America", he is placed within the context of the global far right.
"[61] Andrés Malamud, a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, argued that Milei's speech is anarcho-capitalist since "it's limited to interests and incentives: lowering taxes, reducing state intervention, liberalizing even organ trafficking.
"[67] Touzón added: "He combines a kind of ultraliberal orthodoxy, from [Milton] Friedman and [Friedrich] von Hayek... he sees himself as a warrior against the state.
They also cited the escalation of the dollar and the rise in interest rates of Argentina's central bank and placed it within the context of a scenario of extreme volatility and uncertainty.
[98] In the United States, the Associated Press emphasized Milei's controversial statements and said he could be Argentina's next president, saying: "He believes selling human organs should be legal, climate change is a 'socialist lie,' sex education is a ploy to destroy the family and that the Central Bank should be abolished.
"[70] They described him as "the latest example of how right-wing populists are making inroads in Latin America, appealing to a citizenry angry with politics as usual and eager for outsiders to shake up the system.
"[70] In Brazil, Folha described Milei as a right-wing radical whose proposals included the "sale of organs, liberalization of weapons, dollarization of the economy, and an end to of the Central Bank".
"[70] El País headlined "The ultra Javier Milei capitalizes on the protest vote and wins the primary elections in Argentina.
"[70] In France, Le Figaro saw the Milei phenomenon as "the new sensation of Argentine politics" and described him as a far-right anti-establishment liberal with "rockstar airs".
[70] Le Monde highlighted that Milei "disrupts the Argentine political landscape" in favor of "a state reduced to its minimum expression, he defends the freedom to bear arms and sell organs.
[70] In this way, voters pushed "a rock-singing libertarian outsider candidate into first place in a huge shake-up in the race towards presidential elections in October", and gave "a stinging rebuke to the center-left Peronist coalition and the main Together for Change conservative opposition bloc with inflation at 116% and a cost-of-living crisis leaving four in 10 people in poverty".
[70] In China, the state agency Xinhua appealed to a definition by analyst Rosendo Fraga to describe Milei as "a representative of the Western extreme right who adopts rockstar attitudes" and "found an echo especially among young libertarians".
This made him the third most approved world leader listed behind only Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as only 1 of 3 world leaders listed who had an approval rating over 50%[102] While raised Catholic,[103][104] Milei has been critical of the Catholic Church under Pope Francis,[105] whom on different occasions he called a "Jesuit who promotes communism", "an unpresentable and disastrous character", "a fucking communist", "communist turd", "a piece of shit", and "a filthy leftist".
[106] He also accused him of "preaching communism to the world" and being "the representative of the evil one on Earth" for promoting the option for the poor, a Catholic social justice doctrine of aid to the underprivileged.
[2] During his political career, Milei has also been involved in several investigations, and has been accused of having a violent attitude towards journalists and critics, as well as of misogynistic behavior, including towards women in journalism.
[117] In May 2022, Milei was accused of having plagiarized scientists like Salvador Galindo Uribarri, Mario Rodríguez Mesa, Jorge Luis Cervantes Cota, and Antonio Guirao Piñera for his Pandenomics (2020) book.
In August 2022, Ramiro Vasena, a candidate for a small liberal party in Argentina, filed a complaint in a Buenos Aires court against Milei for plagiarism in Pandenomics, describing him as "a compulsive plagiarist".
[67] Controversial were his opposition to abortion in rape cases,[121] his view of comprehensive sex education in schools as a form of brainwashing,[122] skepticism towards COVID-19 vaccines,[123] civilian firearm ownership support,[96] legalization of organ trade,[124] promotion of the far-right Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory,[125] and climate change denial.
[20][47][48] During the 2023 electoral campaign, his critics often pointed to Milei's controversial pronouncements, which have been described as being part of an outlandish and bizarre behavior, to argue about his incompetency to rule.
