The media want to make sure you know that Javier Milei, the upstart candidate who improbably won Argentina’s presidential primary this week, is a “Trump admirer,” “right-wing populist,” “far-right outsider,” “far-right populist,” “rightist,” “far-right libertarian,” a “radical” — and did they mention he’s on the “far-right“?
For a quick comparison, recall that when far-leftist Lula won his election in Brazil recently, the headlines read, “Lula beats far-right President Bolsonaro to win Brazil election,” or, “Brazil’s Lula sworn in, vows accountability and rebuilding,” etc. But you know how that goes.
Anyway, I’m no expert on Argentinian politics, so this coverage sparked my curiosity. And it turns out, Milei — also known as el Peluca (“The Wig”) because he sports the hairstyle of a man spinning jazz-flute fusion records in his velvet-draped bachelor pad circa 1972 — is far more interesting than headlines would have us believe.
An economist and rhetorical pugilist, Milei’s philosophical outlook could more precisely be described as “doctrinaire ultraliberal,” (the good kind) as someone recently put it. That is news because it is an exceptionally rare outlook.
Milei threatens to upend the political order in a country in the middle of another economic meltdown. Once-low poverty rates have exploded — some estimates put it at 43 percent — while the currency continues to lose its value. Milei, a longtime television personality, has made the case that Argentines are “hostages” to generationally destructive economic policy (interest rates were hiked to 118 percent this week.) He argues that politicians — or, as he
