Javier Milei’s Paradox: A Libertarian Tests a New Kind of Political Alliance

Javier Milei, an economist who pushed the public debate to the right without complaint, a character who sometimes looks like a tough rock star and sometimes like Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, with which he can attract the young generations of all social classes and the whole country, showed last Sunday for the first time that he is not indifferent according to the harsh criticisms and condemnations he has been receiving lately. And he did it through a unusually introspective thread of tweets.

He titled his posts: “Sunday Reflection”. And he said that “when I decided to enter politics about two years ago, I knew it would not be easy. politics is a mess and many interests of people who do not want anything to change are at stake here. People who live off this corrupt system at the expense of the people.”

“In these two years, I managed to confirm what we already know: politics is worse than we think. They only care about their own and will do anything to stay in power,” he wrote.

He also predicted that “they will tell us everything. That we are crazy. That we don’t have teams. That our proposals cannot be implemented. that we are corrupt Abusers. Misogynist. violent. That we don’t have a party. If we hadn’t arrived”.

And he assured that “we will respond to all attacks with proposals to solve Argentina’s problems. be patient. Redouble your efforts. Convince your friends.”

It is a journalistic fact that he reacted. I avoided doing that until last night. Or, if he did respond, he did so by speaking – or outright shouting – louder. But the campaign is progressing and his high percentages in the polls, which in some studies they reach 20% of voting intentions, candidates and strategists are starting to worry.

“It’s not a joke anymore”said the consultant Chronicler. Together for Change sees the libertarian deputy becoming a phenomenon when he visits otherwise apathetic provinces, and leaders have gone from understanding (or at least trying to understand what the phenomenon represents) to attacking him.

MILEY’S CANDIDATES

Visits made by the deputy this weekend for San Carlos de Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes (Neuquén)where he acted on his regular tours, are a proof of the anticipation your presence creates. Always accompanied by his sister Karina and his territorial owner, Carlos Kikuchiin Río Negro appeared together with Ariel Rivero and Sylvia Astuenacandidate for governor and vice president, where he held a press conference and then walked together through the mall.

There, as reported, The economist announced that he will create a ministry that will be the ministry of “Human Capital”. from where they will direct the “output of social plans”. According to him, this will lead to the closure of the Institute for Social Development, Health and Education. In addition, he was convinced that with his economic plan, Argentina “will be a world power again in 35 years.”

In San Martín de los Andes, where Milei traveled to support his gubernatorial candidate Carlos Eguía, the deputy said thatand “we are fighting head-to-head for the possibility of entering the second round” and attacked all his competitors. “We fought Frente de Chorros, Juntos por el Cargo, Cynical Coalition and La Camporonga.”

@JMiley in Bariloche on February 24, 2023
VLCC!!! pic.twitter.com/3Y5PKURhJS

— Carlos Kikuchi (@CarlosKikuchi) February 25, 2023

There are fireworks, but underneath are partners, and the real enemies of politicians are us, those who came to say that there is no longer that caste model, he said. And he described Horacio Rodríguez Larreta as “sinister.”

Milei’s candidate for governor in Río Negro, Ariel Rivero, is the mayor of Campo Grande, a town in Alto Valle next to Neuquén, in the Vaca Muerta area. He comes from the traditional Peronism of the area, and his political godfather was Miguel Angel Pichetto, with whom he was in a relationship until recently, when he came into contact with the libertarians. by the way no one could place him outside the disgraced political “caste”.

The candidate for governor in Neuquén is not new to politics either, media businessman Carlos Eguía, who followed the radical MP Pablo Cervi, a fruit and vegetable businessman, in his political career. He even supported him in his launch as a UCR gubernatorial candidate in Together for Change. But he met Milei and jumped.

Pragmatic, determined to win, Milei changed his growth strategy, running away from young people who have recently come into politics, not very experienced when it comes to electoral struggle, in order to make agreements with long-standing leaders and ensure an effective territorial arrangement

Something similar happens in Tucumán, where he made an alliance with Ricardo Bussi, which has a threshold of 10% in all elections, which it hopes to increase with the support of Milei’s presidential candidacy. He is the son of General Antonio Domingo Bussi, who was the de facto governor during the years of the dictatorship.

and also in Salta, where Milei will support the candidacy of soy businessman and former national representative Alfredo Olmedo, Known in his province for the amount of resources he usually uses before each campaign.

All four were more or less close allies of Juntos por el Cambio, although none was officially accepted. Perhaps the closest was Olmedo who followed current senator Juan Carlos Romero in the formula. Bussi tried to do this before every election, but the opposition coalition systematically opposed it.

For his part, Eguía had the vocation to accompany Cervi, but he wanted a more important place. And Rivero stayed in the opposite direction in Río Negro when Pichetto distanced himself from provincial politics, and sought his own path.

Young people can finally wait. “They have a lot to learn and it is our duty to teach them, today traditional politics passes over them, and they and all of us will be better the more volume we reach,” said the expert leader from Río Negra, enthusiastic about the potential created in the Patagonian province.