The term “bait” was born on the internet. The first records date back to the early nineties, and by the end of that decade the word had reached a dictionary for the first time. But the page that brought him to stardom was “4chan”, a site that was all the rage in the United States, which marked the beginning of meme culture and which was central in the construction of narratives of the new right worldwide. In 2013, “bait” began to spin strongly on that portal, and sometimes, as an explanation, it came attached to the image of a fish biting a hook. That’s the logic behind the term: “Deliberately provoking someone to make them angry by making fun of them,” says the Collins dictionary.
What happened on Saturday in San Miguel was that. Before the presentation of “The forces of heaven”the priests of this group thought about how to generate an event that causes anger and concern or, in a duranbarbian keywhich triggers conversation and therefore publicity. And what they came up with was highly effective in that sense. Flags and lighting reminiscent of Italian fascism, photos that were distributed with the protagonists in tough poses and then the finishing touch. “We are the armed wing of La Libertad Avanza,” he launched Daniel “Fat Dan” Parisini. It was a strategically cut video (seconds before he had said that “the weapons were cell phones”) or, in his own terms, it was a bait.
This is how the crusaders think and move. Javier Milei. In this disparate group made up of politicians, tweeters and intellectuals, the “jokes” are mixed with thread, fighting for electoral lists, violent rhetoric and mystical liturgy to form a strange cocktail. It is clear that what they did was a pose, a joke. But was it a lie?
butterfly effect
Milei is convinced that God communicated with him at the end of 2020. It was a talk they had thanks to his deceased dog, Conanwhom the libertarian did not believe was dead but had gone “to sit next to the One,” as he calls God. Thanks to Karina, his medium sister, the economist believes he has had a dialogue with this supreme being, from whom he left with a “mission.” “VYou have to get into politics to defeat the evil one“You are going to be President in 2023,” he said, as Milei told him, full of pride, to a dozen people in recent years. From there man thinks that through “the forces of heaven”, which he cites in all his actions, he can communicate with God.
One of the great novelties and the great successes of the libertarian phenomenon is that it knew how to transform its exposed flanks and weaknesses into strengths. In the same way that it turned having only 37 deputies and seven senators in both chambers into a flag –Milei’s idea against “the caste” that does not let him govern-, its militants transformed the mystical connection that the libertarian claims to have with God and his dead dog into a symbol of belonging and, now, into a political group.
“We are the Praetorian Guard of Milei,” Parisini launched in his brief speech at the Italian Society of Saint Michael. Also on stage were Agustín Romo, Buenos Aires legislator for that town and one of the brains of the Government’s digital communication, Nahuel Sotelo, secretary of Worship and Civilization, Alejandro Álvarez, son of the founder of Guardia de Hierro and undersecretary of university policies, Santiago Santurionational deputy, Ezequiel Acuña and Juan Pablo Carreirathe founders of The Right DiaryMariano Pérez, official journalist, and Lucas “Sagaz” Luna, director of Intercargo, among others. Also part of the party was Agustín Laje, ideologist of the new Spanish-speaking right and the logic of “the cultural battle”, who had just launched, days before, the Faro Foundation, a millenarian think tank. The launch included the participation of the President and served to raise thousands of dollars from important businessmen.
Although they come from different places, everyone who was in San Miguel – with exceptions like Sotelo, who started with Espert and then Álvarez made the leap, who appeared at the end of the 2023 campaign, and lajewho has a previous academic career – have something in common: they were part of the founding nucleus of La Libertad Avanza in 2021, and several of them began to deal with Milei already in his time as a media economist (this is the case of Parisini, Carreira and Acuña).
The thing is, despite its supernatural name, the intentions of this space are very earthly. Behind the aesthetics and the sharp speeches, there were two central ideas in the event. One was to “establish the hard core,” according to one of its organizers, a logic similar to that which motivated Milei’s speech in Parque Lezama but now transferred to other figures, especially at a time where realpolitik forced the libertarian government to explore uncomfortable placessuch as a meeting with Xi Jinping and a future visit to communist China. The other reason is one that usually moves the caste: the fight to occupy next year’s lists, especially in Buenos Aires. This space is sponsored by the off-road advisor Santiago Caputowho was on top of the organization of the event both before and after the controversy.
Caputo maintained a silent fight throughout the year with Sebastian Parejathe owner of Karina Milei in that town and one of the reasons for the friction between the “wizard of the Kremlin” – he was named after the novel by Giuliano Da Empoli – and the presidential sister. Pareja was not part of the act, nor were any of his bishops in the province. There is an almost mathematical theme in the background: there are many hands for a small plate. He already has first place on that list. José Luis Espert (who aims to appoint another one of his own), while the rest will be defined between Pareja and Karinism, the forces of heaven and caputism, the territorial alliances that are made in each locality and, if the PRO manages to accept the poor offer that the Government makes, the yellows. There is no room for everyone, but, the new libertarian group would say, victory never depended on the number of soldiers.
Barriers
There are huge questions about this group. One is the extent to which their actions are validated by the Government or the extent to which they represent it. Several do not have official positions, the most emblematic case being that of Parisini. It would seem that, in any case, that is not an obstacle. “Fat Dan” He records frequent visits to the Casa Rosada, especially to Caputo’s office, and even appears in official records authorizing income. But Parisini, who has a streaming program in “Carajo”a channel of which he is a minority partner, is much more than that. He is a political, cultural and ideological leader of libertarian militancy, whom many imagine as a candidate next year, although he says he does not want to.
“El Gordo” can lead internal raids – he marked officials on the networks to be fired, a game he plays in harmony with Caputo -, point out external enemies – who once pointed out by him receive insults from thousands of users, escraches that sometimes they go from the virtual to the real – and also works to support the story. Their contribution to the official narrative ranges from the framing that must be given to the State (“we must put in our friends and family and remove all the communists”, an idea that Parisini and Romoto name a few, they have been complying to the letter), to their own line (“anyone who questions the smallest detail of what Milei does is an idiot and a son of a bitch”) and to the treatment they deserve. the political adversary (“sticks, fire and blood for lefties”).
This last chapter is the one that comes back the most when talking about “Dan” and his group, a ghost that travels around the world every time the new right is mentioned and that grew again after he spoke of “armed arm.” ”. How far are they willing to take the violence? “These are the ways of the networks”, “it’s bait”, “you don’t understand how they talk on Twitter now”, “it’s ironic consumption” are some of the phrases with which they usually explain themselves in this group, based on the fact that the violence that they express is only discursive. About violence in joke mode, the philosopher Luis García wrote: “Cosplay fascism is its coolest strategygives them tactical mobility to enter and exit democracy and to neutralize criticism for walking around as an imitation of themselves.”
Furthermore, the thesis that violence is only virtual is risky. Firstly, because the attacks usually come to reality, as happened days after the event in San Miguel (see box). And second, because it is not entirely clear what the links are between this group and “KFC”, a Twitter band led by Federico Gorgaan Argentine exiled in Madrid who from there leads sinister attacks on people who criticize the Government on social networks, as demonstrated by an investigation by Crisis magazine. From “the forces of heaven” they are unaware of any link.
Pose
It is clear that the fascist aesthetic and agitational imprint was sought. Especially since it occurred after the public humiliation of “The Pistarini” (see box), with whom “El Gordo Dan” had a dialogue after the episode with Dillom. The construction of this group as an “armed arm” would seem to want to promote an idea exactly the opposite of what was seen on that plane: that this gang inspires something similar to fear. Laje, who threatens to leave Spain and return to live in the country while rumors grow that imagine him entering politics in the not-so-distant future, spoke in San Miguel about the “left-handed sons of bitches,” who are “evil.” , to whom “insulting is the least they deserve.”
“A sought-after effect of the Government’s communication strategies is the normalization of violence, but also of new narratives: that what we previously did not even think about, much less say, is integrated into daily debates. From questioning the political system and its representatives, to the stigmatization of all dissidence, the dissolution of the State, the denial of climate change or gender violence,” says Sandra Chaher in “Wild Narratives,” the book that has just been released by association he presides, Communication for Equality. In this text the Italian historian also speaks Steven Fortiauthor of the book “Democracies in Extinction”: “The tension serves the extreme right to create chaos: it makes it difficult for others to counter their discourse, because everything is very fast and there is no time to try to build a confrontation strategy; So they are always the ones who take the initiative. This chaos also serves to hide issues: to talk about some things and not others.”
The appearance of the lighthouse foundation and the group “The Forces of Heaven” mark the moment that the Government is going through. With the economy relatively stabilized and Trump’s victory reinforcing its own narrative, the idea that the Casa Rosada is now pushing is to move the debate from numbers to the “cultural”, an area that will have Laje as the protagonist. “Yes, we are going to do right-wing Gramsci. We are not going to stop until screens, universities, institutions and laws reflect the values of the West,” Milei said at the foundation’s presentation event. If they conquer the debate of ideas, libertarians think, they will also conquer the polls. The One and the forces that come down from heaven have established it so.
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