Nov.21

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Argentina Goes with a Right-Wing Populist

The people of Argentina headed to the polls over the weekend, and elected Javier Milei by an 11-point margin (55%-44%). He won all but three of Argentina's 24 provinces. In short, it was a rout.

As you can see from the headline, Milei is being described as a right-wing populist, which is certainly correct, but also does not give a full picture, as some of his ideas are more traditionally conservative, while others are more anarcho-capitalist. Here's a partial rundown:

• He wants to privatize state-run media and energy firms
• He wants to stop printing money and use U.S. dollars as Argentina's official currency
• He wants to cut the size of the government
• He opposes abortion, women's equality, LGBTQ rights and sex education
• He says that climate change, if it exists, is not man-made
• He hates, hates, hates socialism
• He loves Donald Trump and Israel
• He thinks Argentine Pope Francis is an "envoy of Satan"
• He wants to reduce immigration
• He wants to transfer control of prisons to the military

So, Milei is quite... interesting. He also says that he will never, ever apologize for having a penis. So, if you were thinking about asking for that, don't bother. Here is a picture of him:

Apparently, these right-wing populist types are not legally allowed to own a comb.

Obviously, we don't follow Argentine politics all that closely, but it's pretty clear that this was a "throw the bums out" kind of election. The country has been run by the same basic Peronist coalition for decades, and the Argentinians decided they wanted to try something new in the face of rising crime, inflation, etc. Presumably they are also hoping their experiment with right-wing populism works out better than the one in neighboring Brazil. (Z)