On networks, libertarian users began to ironically refer to Alberto Fernández as “the Goat”, a play on words associated with GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). It is not because of his own achievements, but on the contrary: they point to him as someone who, with his management, would have paved the way for Javier Milei’s triumph by leaving Kirchnerism in one of its weakest moments.
The nickname became widespread after his interview with Tomás Rebord, where the former president denied accusations of gender violence by Fabiola Yáñez and disclaimed responsibility for the economic deterioration during his term (2019-2023). The annual inflation of 211%, poverty above 40%, the hardened exchange rate and internal tensions within the Frente de Todos are pointed out by milleista accounts as key factors in the subsequent liberal victory.
“Thanks to the Goat for giving us the country on a plate,” says a tweet with more than 800,000 impressions, accompanied by the animal emoji. The thread attributes to the former president a series of failed decisions—from the management of the pandemic to the episodes in Olivos—that, according to this reading, wore down the ruling party at that time and strengthened the anti-system discourse.
The official accounts replicate the memes: images of Fernández in quarantine with the phrase “The MVP of Mileism” and edited videos where his statements are superimposed with graphs of rising inflation. One of those clips closes with the message: “Without Alberto there is no chainsaw.”
In the last few hours, after an ironic tweet dedicated to a journalist who criticized him, libertarian networks exploded again: “the Goat is back”, “the damn Goat did it again”, “golden ball” and other similar phrases served to celebrate his tweeting performance.
Irony is the basis of the phenomenon. Users who previously questioned him now present him as a central—albeit involuntary—actor of political change. “He is the antihero we needed,” writes one of the most widespread profiles. In the Argentine digital ecosystem, Fernández appears not only as a former president, but as the accidental protagonist of the transition to the Milei era.
