Argentines Choose a Libertarian President, Biden Preferred the Leftist

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.

Extreme ideas – according to the New York Times:

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.

More from the Times:

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.

We’ll be Argentinian soon if we keep voting in Democrats. Watch the debate – the country’s a mess:

Joe Biden Preferred the Socialist Candidate

In September, at the G-20 summit in New Delhi, India, President Alberto Fernández Lula, a hardcore communist, held two informal meetings with his United States counterpart, Joe Biden.

Biden questioned Fernández about the PASO elections on August 13 and the performance of far-right candidate Milei, who won the primary with just under 30% of the vote.

“Who is this character who has appeared in Argentina?” he asked the surrounding Argentine delegation.

“The same character who is looking to take a picture with Donald Trump in the United States,” answered Presidential Spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti.

Cerruti was referring to the surprise trip that the Argentine candidate had supposedly taken for personal reasons…

“Trump is still a problem,” Biden continued to the Argentine delegation. “As long as Trump exists, you will always have me by your side,” Fernández responded. “There’s no one in the world worse than Trump.”

Biden’s concern for Argentina echoed that of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who spoke with Fernández ahead of the first session of the G20. After embracing, the two discussed the results of the PASO elections and the far-right candidate’s triumph.

[He wanted Massa the Socialist to win.]

[…]

Lula has been concerned about Milei’s electoral prospects and has already said that if the LLA representative comes to power, “it could set Latin America back 40 years.” In his analysis, he believes that Milei would be “worse than former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.”

Here’s the interview with Tucker:

This article was updated with Joe Biden’s views of Milei as opposed to the hardcore socialist.

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