For Javier Milei Politics is not just politics. It is not a matter of numbers, of how many deputies or senators he can get, of how many followers he will have on the street applauding him.
For him, his candidacy is much more than that. It is a “mission” – a word he repeats – that was entrusted to him by God, with whom he is convinced to have back-and-forth dialogues and with whom he claims to be his chosen one.
That is why what has happened since Sunday when the first results of the elections were known must be taken in this line, a personal and mystical one: the blow that the libertarian suffered must be understood at the level of someone who was absolutely convinced of that on October 22 – also the day of his 53rd birthday, which will surely have been taken by him as another divine sign – won in the first round. From someone who had a conviction that only those who think they have been chosen by a superior being can have.
The thing is that the hours that followed the elections were the most dramatic of Freedom Advances in his short life. All the threads of a hasty setup and a messianic leader began to come to light.
Just
The hours prior to the agreement on Tuesday the 24th with Mauricio Macri They had served as a warning to him: the weakness of his armor had begun to show. On the same Sunday night, Juan Napoli, the banker who was the first candidate for senator for Buenos Aires and one of the main financiers of the space, told him: “I have come this far.” That day had been marked by tension from beginning to end.
The numbers were not what they expected and no one was prepared for that scenario. Furthermore, the presence of Lilia Lemoine stirred things up even more. The personal assistant and candidate for deputy had been the protagonist of major controversies the week before the elections (see box) and she appeared without being summoned. Many of her, that night, looked at her as if she were some kind of scapegoat.
The hours that followed that Sunday were not better for the libertarian. It is here that the costs of the national army that he commanded began to be seen. Carlos Kikuchi, the black monk from Milei who is now losing his place within space. As he has been telling NEWS for two years, Kikuchi has been closing alliances throughout the country with many politicians recycled from Peronism.
Now, in this instance prior to ballotage, many within La Libertad Avanza fear that these Trojan horses will begin to turn around or, something that would be even worse, that they will begin to engulf the party from within. Liliana Salinas, deputy elected by LLA in Entre Ríos, was the first to slam the door and abandon the libertarian, justifying her decision due to the rapprochement with Macri.
With the recorder off, several in LLA wondered how many more would follow Salinas’ path. “The thing is Kikuchi closed with Massa and Peronism in many provinces. “Those are going to leave, one by one, they are going to bleed us dry,” says a member of the armed group, who sees that the Buenos Aires legislators who entered through LLA are going to do the same. And not only that: the unionist Luis Barrionuevo He already announced that he abandoned ship and took his prosecutors with him.
Forward
The earthquake was so strong that Milei He did something he had never done before in his media and political career: he started saying things he didn’t believe in. The abrupt change – of Bullrich “murderous massacre” to “a great Minister of Security” or “shitty lefties” to “the left is the one that knows the most about human capital” – meant for the libertarian putting in check one of his great capitals, that of presenting himself as someone “genuine” who came from outside and did not “do politics.”
What happened on Tuesday night the 24th at Macri’s house was, exactly, playing politics. In the meeting, which took place in the house that the former president has in Acassuso, some basic points of the agreement were agreed upon (see note on page 20) and they swear that they did not talk about names, although the name of William Dietrich for an eventual libertarian cabinet sounds strong.
Milei arrived with her sister Karina to that key meeting. On the other side, along with Macri, were Patricia Bullrich, Cristian Ritondo, Diego Santilli and Luis Petri. Almost at midnight, at Milei’s request, strategist Santiago Caputo – who has been growing in importance in the libertarian’s mind – and point guard Guillermo Francos joined.
This is another additional problem. Milei is going to compete in a ring in which he is a rookie, and in which Macri and his people have a great advantage. The libertarian is trapped in a short blanket: on the one hand he is going to suffer a bleeding of leaders, as a result of his weak armed forces, and on the other hand they are going to advance him from the Macrista forces. It’s curious: Milei entered the runoff, although he is now standing on a thread about to break.
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