In an astonishingly short period of 38 months, during which the flamboyant television panelist was elected president of Argentina, Javier Gerardo Milei made two virtuous moves that can last a lifetime.
First, he managed to portray the anger of a society overwhelmed by its social and economic hardships and angered by the pandemic’s restrictions. The anger was ultimately directed against almost everything established. The first recipient – the political caste – expanded into a vast network of institutions and organizations that actually opposed the libertarian’s candidacy. The Catholic Church, human rights organizations, football clubs, trade unions, social organizations, public universities, business associations, various groups of artists and intellectuals and the list of signatories goes on. Milei’s overwhelming victory over the prevailing Peronism is also a warning against these representations and their political power.
From the second half of 2023, Argentina took part in the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the restoration of democracy: its seminars, its books, its panels. Milei changed the meaning of the anniversary: He said in the first presidential debate that 1983, the year of the end of the last military dictatorship, was the beginning of a desert from which he had not yet emerged. In his two victory speeches on Sunday, he looked to a different moment in history, praising the second half of the 19th century for its constitutional achievements and economic prosperity. His presidency is indeed the boldest project to dismantle the remnants of Argentina’s welfare state and eliminate old and new social achievements such as the abortion law.
For his second virtuous step – an idea to end inflation – he had a decisive advantage: the economic data presented by his rival, Minister Sergio Massa. During the campaign, faced with persistent bad news about rising poverty, falling incomes and skyrocketing prices, Milei proposed a shortcut: dollarizing the economy and abolishing the central bank. Despite little consensus about its applicability among key business leaders, Milei supported the plan, despite failing to bring it to fruition on Victory Night.
Starting Monday, the libertarian liberal will begin designing a new political order to carry out his radical reforms. The alliance with Mauricio Macri was crucial in obtaining the votes that allowed him to go from 30% in the general election to 56% in the runoff. After overcoming the initial intransigence of disagreeing with other forces, he now has to set the terms of an agreement that includes a chapter in the executive branch with the presence of those related to the former president in the Cabinet and another in the legislature will have receive parliamentary support, which is also needed. The political system has become even more fragmented due to the split between Together for Change and Peronism without clear leadership and the crisis that has triggered such a resounding defeat.
Many of the reforms that Milei proposes will face strong opposition from the organizations that oppose them and have great mobilization capabilities. This raises one of the most troubling questions of his presidency: how will he manage the inevitable social conflict and how will he deal with the security forces?
Although he made grand announcements about the end and beginning of eras after his election victory, the urgencies and demands of society, including his constituents, seem to lack the patience of lengthy processes. The display of anger is not even guaranteed to last the four years of a presidential term.
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