In his own way, Javier Milei resembles the boy in Hans Christian Andersen’s story who, to the scandal of good people, shouted “the king is naked.” Although the boy made an invaluable contribution to the kingdom, he could not contribute much more; From that moment on, it was up to others to make the missing clothing. For his part, Milei managed to get more than half of the electorate to stop believing in the voluntarist fantasies that, for decades, had captivated the bulk of the national political class. Convinced that sooner or later reality would adapt to her illusions, the “caste” she denounced with overwhelming vehemence led the country towards an abyss.
Could this be the historical significance of the unforeseen emergence of the rabid anarcho-capitalist? There are more and more people convinced that “the course” that Milei set is the correct one but that the government that he formally heads is so dysfunctional that it will be unable to overcome the obstacles along the way. By allowing his alleged subordinates, including sister Karina and life brother Santiago Caputo, to wage fierce internal battles for power, Milei is sabotaging himself. He is a leader who does not command. To make matters worse, these are not ideological differences between two factions, which could make some sense, but rather incompatible personal ambitions.
Although the details of the conflict that is resolved in the fetid social networks that here, as in almost all other countries, are occupied by subjects who take advantage of the anonymity they facilitate to trash the rivals on duty and express themselves in a cloacal manner, rarely deserve the attention of the majority, what does transcend gives the impression that the Casa Rosada has been transformed into a madhouse. Until a coherent alternative to the current government emerges, Milei can continue to downplay the importance of the spectacle being provided by the characters around him, but unless he is extremely lucky, the day will come when everything will fall apart. The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, is wrong when he says that “the Kuka risk” does not exist; It is alive and well within the libertarian government that, in everything except financial matters and, it is to be hoped, kleptocratic voracity, shares with Kirchnerism the vices that made it unviable.
At this point, it is evident that Milei made a serious strategic error when, at the beginning of his administration, he chose to keep Mauricio Macri and other leaders who offered to accompany him and provide him with experienced technical teams at bay. As the undisputed leader of a broad coalition determined to manage the economy realistically and effectively, he would not have had to depend on the whims of members of a party that was improvised overnight to take advantage of his popularity. As it could not be otherwise, La Libertad Avanza was soon filled with opportunists, eccentrics and untalented narcissists who would not add anything to the whole but, on the contrary, would manage to make it ridiculous without worrying at all about the impact on public opinion of their behavior.
Does Milei feel comfortable with the unruly party that was created out of nothing based on his alleged charisma? As long as its members are careful not to disagree with its strong opinions, however strange some of them may be, it seems more than willing to tolerate their extravagances, which, needless to say, are usually not that different from its own. It is as if he had proposed to destroy not only the adherence of so many Argentines to irrational socioeconomic concepts but also the respect for the principles that make peaceful coexistence possible in pluralistic societies, such as those related to freedom of expression.
Although the president has not attempted to install a censorship regime in order to muzzle those who hold opinions that in his opinion are unacceptable, he has never hesitated to verbally condemn them with the extreme virulence that he has patented. Behind the libertarian mask lurks a totalitarian determined to wage an all-out war against thoughts that he believes are unhealthy.
Like those of Néstor Kirchner and Carlos Menem, Milei’s government is endogamous although, fortunately, Javier is not the patriarch of a large family. Even so, he did not hesitate to let his sister take care of the political affairs that bore him so much. Perhaps because she is aware of her own limitations, Karina does not want others to have access to the great political assets that her brother has accumulated, which is why she protects him like a miser, expelling all those who in her opinion could be thinking of appropriating some loose pennies.
This is what Karina did when Macri tried to formalize an alliance. She is also extremely concerned about the hypothetical threats posed by women who, in one way or another, approach the presidential orbit, whether as girlfriends or, in the case of Victoria Villarruel, people who have a certain political weight. From Karina’s point of view, women are even more dangerous than men. It was to be foreseen, therefore, that sooner or later she would fall out with Patricia Bullrich who, after dreaming of being Macri’s political heir, seems to have in mind becoming the natural successor of Milei whose public image is rapidly deteriorating due not only to her uncontrollable irascibility but also to her increasingly notorious inability to discipline the troops.
Next year’s presidential elections are already on the horizon. To win them, Milei will have to convince a substantial part of the citizens that, despite each person’s personal problems, it would be in their best interest to support him because he is the only one in a position to guide the country towards a better destiny. Therefore, you will need to connect emotionally with a multitude of individuals who tend to blame you for all the financial difficulties that plague them. It may be unfair, since Milei is seeking to replace the model that is ultimately responsible for the fall into poverty of millions of families with another that would provide them with more opportunities, but that is how politics is; “piove, Roma barks”, as the Italians say about those who attribute all their problems to the evil of the government in power.
Speaking of Rome, the leaders of the local branch of the Catholic Church took advantage of May 25 to tangentially criticize the Mileist government. The archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge García Cueva, in fact accused him of allowing “a cloud of social dismemberment” to cover the country, and then called for more “dialogue” and less “network terrorism.” Although Milei did not take the hint, the influential libertarian deputy Alberto Benegas Lynch counterattacked by lambasting those who “militate with a cassock the return of Peronism that left us 57 percent poor,” in addition to specializing in the “permanent demonization of the individual, wealth and the Romanization of poverty” which, he says, “always leaves them in a bad place.” Is Benegas Lynch right? Many would agree, since it is no secret that the social doctrine of the Church has much more in common with Peronist thought than with any variant of liberalism, be it the classic one or the one that, duly modified, is at the root of mileist libertarianism.
Another concern of the Catholic Church has to do with the constant advance of a plethora of evangelical congregations that have already established themselves in many disadvantaged areas. The ecclesiastical authorities fear that, as is happening in Brazil, they will end up taking over popular religiosity. Catholic groups have already mobilized in an attempt to stop the construction in the city of Buenos Aires of a “mega-temple” of the Church of Latter-day Saints next to the Monastery of Santa Catalina, a colonial-era building that, they say, is in danger of collapsing due to the works that are underway.
This is one more episode in the long battle that Catholicism is waging against “the sects,” almost all of them of American origin, such as the Mormons of the “megatemple,” who seem to be more in tune with modern life than the old Roman Church. To the chagrin of traditionalists like Vice President Villarruel, what is happening in this area reflects the “change in mentality” that the Government – of which he remains a schismatic member – is striving to promote. Likewise, the fact that the President of the Republic has developed a highly heterodox syncretic creed for his personal use cannot but bother those convinced that the national being is Catholic par excellence.
In any case, the fact that Milei’s arcane theological beliefs have not had much impact on his personal image suggests that, in this area at least, Argentina is a strikingly pluralistic country in which few show much interest in religious disputes that, in some societies, are even capable of provoking horrible wars. To the frustration of the bishops, gone are the days when it was customary to pay tribute to the supposed moral authority of those who claim to speak in the name of God, which is why their influence on political debates is so limited.
