Javier Milei, during the interview broadcast by the A24 channel on October 26, 2023.
The last interview with the Ultra Javier Milei reached one of the highest ratings on Argentine television on Thursday evening and hours later it continues to reverberate in conversations, media and social networks. There were two particularly striking moments in the lecture. One occurred when Argentina’s presidential candidate, who will face Peronist Sergio Massa in the second round of voting on November 19, appeared upset by a “murmur” in the studio that “killed him,” he said. The second came minutes later, when the Ultra resorted to a misogynistic metaphor to brag about the support he received this week from Patricia Bullrich, the conservative candidate who was eliminated from the Casa Rosada race in Sunday’s election became: “I’m in the middle of his sheets.”
Milei was late to host Esteban Trebucq’s show. Sitting in the television studio, he apologized and began a conversation that lasted more than an hour. Both agreed that “everything” had happened since the federal election on Sunday. After Massa’s victory in the first round, the Ultra, which came second with almost 30% of the vote, moderated its message by calling on those leaders whom it had treated as murderers and thieves during the campaign to vote. One of the endorsements he received came from Bullrich and the hardline group Together for Change, which includes former President Mauricio Macri. The center-right alliance that brought her to Bullrich as a candidate for Sunday’s election immediately split into hawks and the moderate parts of that coalition and did not support the decision.
In Thursday’s interview, Milei tried to justify the rapprochement between his outfit, La Libertad Avanza, and a candidate who until recently was for him part of a “political caste” that he wanted to “eradicate.” First, he said it was better to build bridges with “similar people” than to hand over “the country to the Kirchnerists.” He later argued that it was “pragmatism.” “Before the Bullrich ad, I posted a meme. Has anyone seen the metrics for this tweet? It has more than 250,000 likes, it has almost 16 million impressions, on my Instagram account alone the post has a million likes,” he explained. He was referring to a message he posted on social networks with an image of a lion – the Ultra calls itself El León – and a duck – Patricia’s diminutive Pato – hugging and holding an Argentine flag.
In the studio, a journalist warned him that likes were “not votes” and the Ultra continued with the clarification: “What I want to say is: there is one salami or three salami.” [tontos] Opinion [sobre la decisión de Bullrich] from a computer… Guess what? While they’re looking at the lady on the internet, I’m right in the middle of her sheets.” One of the journalists in the studio pointed out that the metaphor had not been understood, but the driver took the conversation in a different direction: “Fátima will be angry…”. He was referring to Milei’s partner, Fátima Flórez, an actress and comedian with whom he has recently started appearing in public. Milei said that her partner’s “beauty” was “extraordinary” and “superlative” and that settled the issue.
“Can we ask for the grumbling to stop?”
Minutes earlier, the Ultra had been involved in a tense moment when he interrupted the interview because the “murmurs” were “killing” him. “Can we ask for an end to the mumbling behind the camera? Because it’s very difficult to talk to so many people. These are very sensitive topics and I see that they don’t stop talking even though I changed the tone and implicitly asked them to do so,” Milei said. “We have an unconventional level of commitment to issues as complex as those we deal with. And if I make a mistake [me equivoco]“You destroy me publicly and no one will say that there was a murmur behind it that killed me,” he continued.
The candidate was declaring that his program was “90%” in line with Patricia Bullrich’s and that he was unwilling to negotiate on two of his key proposals, dollarizing the economy and closing the central bank, when he paused and reverted Silence asked. On social networks, some users began to comment on this moment of the conversation. “It’s completely broken,” YouTuber Tomás Rebord wrote in a message. In another text, a former Milei ally, liberal Carlos Maslatón, wrote that the Ultra was a “political stray”: “Everything indicates that it occurred between Sunday’s electoral catastrophe and the capitulation.” [el expresidente Mauricio] Macri, Milei’s brain is completely ruined.
The brutal truth. Workers stop and enter and leave the studio. Javier explains what he will do in our Argentina by overcoming all obstacles, namely the constant mumbling, the unpleasant questions and the incessant tiredness of the last few days.
It’s unique @JMilei pic.twitter.com/6fR7kEZLWZ– Lic Pettovello (@licpettovello) October 27, 2023
The interview was trending on the study’s social network.” This Thursday, the driver who interviewed him the night before also commented: “All the media called me to talk about it.” I didn’t even think it was necessary ( …) There was noise, that’s true. There was a murmur above the television logic. There were more people in the studio than usual. The workers are on strike and the studio was full.”