Argentines on Sunday chose Javier Milei, a libertarian, as their next president. The New York Times is calling him far-right, but Libertarians, by their very definition, are not far-right. Even if you are slightly right-leaning, the New York Times will call you far-right.
Mr. Milei, 53, an economist and former television personality, has burst onto the traditionally closed Argentine political scene with a brash style, an embrace of conspiracy theories, and a series of extreme proposals that he says are needed to upend a broken economy and government.
By conspiracy theories, they mean he said some of the ballots were corrupted.
As president, Mr. Milei has pledged to slash spending and taxes, close Argentina’s central bank, and replace the nation’s currency with the U.S. dollar. He has also proposed banning abortion, loosening regulations on guns, and only considering countries who want to “fight against socialism” as Argentina’s allies, often naming the United States and Israel as examples.
Mr. Milei’s election is a victory for the global far-right movement that gained strength with the election of Mr. Trump and similar politicians, such as Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, but has faltered in recent years with their electoral losses. Mr. Bolsonaro and Spain’s far-right Vox party have cheered on Mr. Milei, and his last interview with an English-language outlet was with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Yet some political analysts said that Mr. Milei’s ascent reflects many Argentines’ desperation for change rather than support of his far-right ideology.
Some voters share his extreme views, “but there are others who voted for him because they see in Milei a way to express their frustration in the face of an economic and political reality that has been ugly to them for a long time,” said Carlos Magni, a professor of history and a political columnist at La Nación, one of Argentina’s largest newspapers.
“They don’t look at Milei’s ideology,” he added. “They see that Milei is angry and that Milei is proposing a break.”
Don’t take anything they say too seriously.
Here’s the interview with Tucker: