The victory of Javier Milei, candidate of the La Libertad Avanza coalition, in the Primaries, Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory (PASO) in Argentina last Sunday caused surprise both inside and outside the country’s borders.
Many underestimated him and it was thought that his extravagant ways, his radical ideas and the scandals in which he has been involved would blow up his political career.
He went so far as to say that he was in favor of the sale of organs and stated that his position on the sale of children “depended” on the terms in which one thought, “perhaps 200 years from now it could be debated,” he said.
These statements failed to sink his career. Nor the scandal of the sale of candidacies, nor the accusations of plagiarism or the complaint for gender violence against a journalist.
These facts are well known by Argentines. Juan Luis González, a political journalist from Noticias magazine, answers a telephone conversation at 20minutos, to talk about those hidden aspects of this media economist, which have already been published in his book El Loco: The unknown life of Javier Milei and his irruption in Argentine politics.
What do you consider to be the most shocking revelation in your book?I had the idea that I was going to investigate this leader of the new right who in Argentina scares many people, especially the left.
And what surprised me while I was doing the research is that before that, and I think it must be the most shocking revelation that the book has, is that Javier Milei is a deeply lonely man, who had a very difficult life.
Since when has that loneliness been with you?That loneliness has accompanied him since he was a child and led him to the point of being convinced that Conan, the dog he always talks about and whom he thanked in Sunday’s speech, is not a dog but a son.
Conan died in 2017 and Milei still does not accept, at least in public, his death. For this reason, one must understand the dimension of a father’s mourning for a son, the only one in a very lonely life. In addition, at that time he only had three relationships, so to speak: his dog, his sister Karina and a single friend.
In your book you mention that Milei talks to her dead dog through a medium and that God gave him the mission to go into politics and become president, what does that tell us about the kind of person he is?What I can affirm is that he is an unstable leader, he has a very marked emotional imbalance.
He makes decisions based on what he consults with the cabinet of dogs that he has, to call it something. When Conan dies in 2017 he clones him. He raised money to do this cloning and he is convinced that the dogs advise him in different areas: one in politics, another in economics, another gives him advice.
Also, to this you add this messianic thing that says that God chose him and that he told him that he was going to be president in 2023. It is a quite complicated combo and there are some questions of some concern.
Do you think that this hitherto unknown mystical part could be a consequence of the hard life you had since your childhood?I am not a psychologist, but it is one of the conjectures that I make in the book. Conan impacted him so much because he had a very lonely life and this is explained by the very difficult life he had.
Because of the violence at home, because of the absence of his father, because of the bullying at school, because of the lack of friends. Milei spent 15 years of her life spending Christmas and New Years alone with the dog she toasted with champagne.. His father was absent even at parties. He had that same loneliness since he was a child. So, surely there is a relationship there.
How did you discover the hidden past and the esoteric part of Milei?The great source of my book is Javier Milei. But not because he wanted to speak, but because before being a politician he is a very extravagant media economist who gave many interviews a day.
About the dogs, about things happening to him that science cannot explain in his relationship with God, and about Conan taking him to the limit of the impossible, he told. The clues were there and later the journalistic work was deepened.
It is something quite striking…Yes, it is striking, as is the question with which I open the book: What happens if an unstable leader appears in an unstable country? This man who could command the destinies of the capable country gets up one day, does mediumship sessions with the dogs and then issues a decree based on that. It’s very impressive.
How has Milei’s irruption impacted Argentine politics?He rewrote Argentine politics. He rewrote the vocabulary of Argentine politics. Some words that did not exist like dollarization, caste and freedom became fashionable and words that already existed like State, taxes, state intervention, health and public education are now frowned upon.
You are not only rewriting the present, but also the past. Now Menemism is a new word thanks to him. He transformed the two great political coalitions. Milei’s irruption is very shocking, especially considering that he was greatly underestimated.
How did it transform political coalitions?The PRO (Republican Proposal) hardened and is led by Patricia Bullrich, who has nothing to do with the PRO. They compared themselves to Barack Obama and European social democracy and Macri boasted that he had never insulted in public and now he insults and even copied Milei’s enemies and ways.
And Kirchnerism, which would become the space of the left in Argentina, ends with the candidacy of Sergio Massa, a man who comes from neoliberalism and who spent decades saying that the United States was the most stale right.. Then you see how Milei ended up having a very big influence.
How do you explain Milei’s popularity and victory in the primaries?There are a lot of factors. Technological changes occur, in the cultural battle. There is also a change in the Argentine and international consciousness and it is no coincidence that the new right triumphs throughout the world.
Obviously there is a connection between Bolsonaro, Trump, Meloni, Kast or Vox. I believe that capitalism is changing in the background and Milei has a speech for this new era of capitalism. Before, Peronism monopolized the workers’ vote and today Milei does it.
I understand…I think it is very central that Milei in his speech and his proposals what may seem extravagant to one and that will not work, such as the dollarization of the Central Bank, the privatization of almost the entire State, in a context as difficult as that of Argentina, you have to understand that this speech is very attractive because it has that magic solution thing. His character is also clearly a very important factor because for a reason he is irresistible to the networks and television.
As soon as you put it, the rating went up. In addition, in his speech there is a mystique that recovers a romanticism, a story, a north, which I understand can engage in a time of so much bitterness in Argentina.
The Milei phenomenon has been so shocking that despite having stated that he agreed with the sale of organs and children, he has won the primaries… What may seem outlandish, damning, flashy and much more to us, such as the theme of dogs, talking with the dead or with God, is something positive for the voter of Milei.
Something is changing here and it is very strong because if any politician in Argentina said that he was in favor of the sale of children at any other time in history, he could never run for elections again, let alone be competitive.. Obviously, something has changed.
Is there a chance that he will become president?Since everything has been crazy since Sunday, I haven’t had time to look at the numbers and do an analysis yet, but in principle I would say yes.. I see no reason for Milei not to continue growing.
Among his proposals are to dollarize the country and eliminate the Central Bank.. Could you really keep these promises? Milei for better and for worse is genuine. What he says is what he thinks unlike many traditional politicians who see a poll and based on that they think. Milei is totally transparent.
So whatever he’s saying he wants to do, he’s either going to try or he’s going to do it and it will go wrong anyway.. But it is not at all something that he has in mind in the sense that he will say it so that he can hit the campaign and then pretend to be distracted. He wants to do it, he is convinced of what he says.
How did Milei react to the publication of the book?blocked me. Although he had already broken relations with me a year and a half ago when in Noticias magazine we removed all the plagiarisms of his book.
As he approaches power, his bad relationship with journalism increases. In some interviews he has been asked questions about thorny and specific issues in the book and about communication through the medium with dogs, he has said exactly the same thing:
“My spiritual life is my own issue.. What I do in my house is my business and if Conan advises me from the afterlife it means that he is the best political consultant of humanity”.
It does not deny it, or anything like that. Infact, it would seem that it confirms it, because if you are asked if you speak to the dead through a medium in a context in which you are a presidential candidate for an election, if it were not so, you would deny it
Have you received criticism from your followers?Yes, many insults on the networks, but they are typical journalistic work. There are some that have made me laugh. As you know, the cover of my book says “El loco” and Milei’s face appears and they made me an image that says “El bobo” and they put my face. I already have it as a sticker on WhatsApp and it has caused a furore in my group of friends. I already use it as a meme.
Milei went so far as to say that the difference between a madman and a genius is success, do you think he is getting closer to becoming a genius?That is something that scares me even more.
He tells you that he is crazy, but if he succeeds he is a genius. In principle I do not see genius there, although I am not saying it criticizing it. However, as a communicator leader, yes, he is clearly a genius in that sense.
