Milei, the agony of the naked king
The president of Argentina has begun his campaign for the October legislative elections, battered by a recent defeat and burdened by feuds within the far right
Javier Milei has lost his lucky star. His redeeming power, emanating from the “forces of heaven,” as he often likes to say, was mercilessly crushed at the September 7 election in Buenos Aires province by Kirchnerist Peronism, the very embodiment of all possible evils in Milei’s view. The unexpected and resounding result in favor of the left — a difference of almost 14 points, a million votes — exposed the king. On the Monday after the election, Milei collided with the reality of an Argentina in crisis. The “best government in the history of humanity” must now find an earthly formula to alleviate the ordeal that lies ahead: national legislative elections will take place on October 26, and it cannot afford another fall.
The far-right government is facing a crisis that until a week ago it considered mere electoral noise. The country’s 24 governors are at war over funds they consider their own, and the Casa Rosada, the seat of government, is withholding them in the name of the fiscal surplus. The opposition, previously dispersed between “collaborators” and “hardliners,” is now working together in Congress to pass laws that challenge the zero deficit. Milei has had no choice but to veto these laws, all of them sensitive, with the resulting political cost. Economy Minister Luis Caputo is finding it increasingly difficult to keep the peso alive, as it struggles against the dollar.
At risk, too, is the banner of honesty that just two years ago transformed the libertarian thinker from an eccentric television commentator into the nation’s president. A case against his sister Karina for bribery allegations and another trial in the infamous $Libra case, a cryptocurrency that soared thanks to Milei’s promotion and turned out to be a scam, are advancing in the courts, albeit at a snail’s pace.
A provincial election in Buenos Aires was never news before. But Milei “nationalized” that vote, convinced that his party, La Libertad Avanza, was ready to exterminate Peronism in its stronghold once and for all. “We will put the final nail in Kirchnerism’s coffin. Kirchnerism, never again,” he had promised during the campaign. The president became so involved that the provincial election became a plebiscite on his national administration. And things couldn’t have gone worse for him. He has squandered much of his political capital and, at the same time, elevated Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof to a possible presidential candidate in 2027. Peronism was not only not dead, as Milei proclaimed, but now smells blood and is ready to fight.
Defeated in Buenos Aires, “Milei lost his greatest asset: the idea of his popular invulnerability, that all his attacks, extravagances, and enemies were tolerated or applauded,” notes Pablo Touzon, director of the consulting firm Escenarios. “In the eyes of a large part of society, that was his greatest power. It’s a bit like the fable The Emperor’s New Clothes: today everyone sees he is naked,” he says. If the naked king in Hans Christian Andersen’s tale has a court of flatterers who hide his helplessness, Milei has a tiny circle of collaborators who are now in the public eye. “Milei’s problem is himself and his gang. All his limitations have become very evident,” warns Touzon.
When things seemed to be going well, Milei called his detractors “vaselined baboons,” to choose just one example of his rhetorical style. The success of his inflation-fighting policy gave him wings, and little by little, he burned all the bridges with opponents, business leaders, and even bankers. The approach to the October national legislative election, led by his sister Karina, the most important aide in the government, ended up squandering any possibility of dialogue.
Milei didn’t pay his allies well and left them in the lurch, convinced he no longer needed them. That group includes the governors, who have broken ties, and also sectors of the far right who felt displaced. The most vocal of the wounded are those in Las Fuerzas del Cielo (The Forces of Heaven), which brought together hundreds of young influencers who, during the good times, defended Milei as apostles on social media.
The Forces of Heaven, led by presidential advisor Santiago Caputo, then dared to criticize the inner circle of power and almost abandoned social media. The problem, they said, lay in the two or three people whispering in the president’s ear, representatives of “the caste” that the far right had promised to combat. They pointed at Eduardo and Martín Menem, cousins and close relatives of former president Carlos Menem. Milei and his sister Karina handed over political management to a family (Menem) that has been increasingly implicated in corruption cases. They also handed power over to Sebastián Pareja, an anti-Kirchnerist Peronist who took charge of the failed campaign in Buenos Aires. If one is speaking of “caste,” it’s hard to find better thoroughbreds.
The day after the electoral defeat, Daniel Parisini, alias “Fat Dan,” the most vocal voice of the Forces of Heaven, demanded changes in the government. “Director, get your team in order now. We’ll continue supporting you here until the end. But get your team in order now and we’ll win,” he wrote on social media. A week later, the Menem cousins were still in their posts, and Pareja was confirmed as campaign manager. Milei’s problem is that he’s in no position to meet that demand.
A high-level source from the Casa Rosada had already acknowledged days before the election that the government’s main problem was a shortage of “good cadres,” good leaders. Born out of haste after a presidential victory that no one had expected, La Libertad Avanza assembled a government in a hurry, often with people that Milei had met during his time on television or during his student days. The political crisis has made it clear that “La Libertad Avanza is what you see, nothing more,” wrote columnist Ignacio Miri a few days ago in the newspaper Clarin. Faced with a setback like Sunday’s, and on the eve of an even more crucial and perhaps decisive election, Milei has an empty bench.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition