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November 20, 2023

Brutal 55-44 defeat for the failed socialist left in Argentina

By Monica Showalter

In Argentina, the result was loud and clear: Argentinians are done with socialism.

According to Fox News:

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – How can the current economy minister of a nation with 140% inflation and 40% living below the poverty line win a presidential election? It turns out that he can't, at least not in Argentina.

Libertarian outsider congressman and economist Javier Milei, of the Liberty Advances party, won a decisive victory tonight over the establishment's center-left candidate, the Peronista Sergio Massa.

With 99.3% of the votes counted, Milei stood at 55.7% versus 44.3% for Massa. While Massa won the vote-rich province of Buenos Aires by a little over 1%, Milei won the city proper of Buenos Aires, and then crushed Massa in the vote-rich northern provinces of Cordoba, Santa Fe, and Mendoza.

The left could scarcely believe its eyes. I watched NPR last night, and it seemed obvious to me that they were in denial. NPR's acknowledgement of that election was broadcast in a tiny story at the very end of their evening news show to state that the results were ... "too close to call."

I had to go back to my Twitter to see if that was actually accurate -- which it was not. Not even close. The news had been out hours ago that Javier Milei, the most militant libertarian ever seen on any nation's national stage, had run away with a monster victory, winning by a ten-point-plus margin against his socialist opponent, the wretched Sergio Massa. 

Reports were rife on Twitter of leftist cheating -- see here.

But the undoubtedly intense effort from that side failed. They got swept away in a libertarian tsunami that utterly rejects socialism, and to Argentina's voting apparat's credit, they got the result out in one day. The old Argentine pope, Pope Francis, must be having heartburn this morning.

But at least he was classy enough to keep his thoughts to himself.

The Guardian couldn't control itself:

Javier Milei, a volatile far-right libertarian who has vowed to “exterminate” inflation and take a chainsaw to the state, has been elected president of Argentina, catapulting South America’s second largest economy into an unpredictable and potentially turbulent future.

With more than 99% of votes counted, the Mick Jagger impersonating TV celebrity-turned politician, who is often compared to Donald Trump, had secured 55.69% of the vote compared with 44.3% for his rival, the centre-left finance minister Sergio Massa.

The Guardian fell into hysteria here when their favorite bugbears came out:

Milei’s victory was celebrated by other big beasts of the global far-right including Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who had championed his campaign and has promised to attend his inauguration. “Hope is sparkling in South America once again,” Bolsonaro wrote on X, hailing what he called a victory for “honesty, progress and freedom”.

The former US president Donald Trump wrote: “The whole world was watching! I am very proud of you. You will turn your country around and truly Make Argentina Great Again.”

His victory was also celebrated by X’s owner Elon Musk, who posted: “Prosperity is ahead for Argentina”.

Global leftist leaders, unable to ignore that monster margin of victory, gave their best faint imitations of congratulations:

Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – who Milei has repeatedly insulted as a corrupt “communist” – recognised Milei’s victory in a tepid social media post. “Democracy is the voice of the people and must always be respected,” Lula wrote, without mentioning Milei by name. “I wish the next government good luck and success. Argentina is a great country and deserves our complete respect,” Lula added.

Colombia’s leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, lamented: “The extreme right has won in Argentina … [It is] sad for Latin America.” “Now say it without crying,” El Salvador’s right-wing president, Nayib Bukele, posted ironically in response.

I'm starting to like that Bukele fellow.

Meanwhile, the swamp establishment predicted Armageddon:

 

I particularly loved that intelligent reply from a former U.S. Treasury official.

Him too, a Council on Foreign Relations type, cluck-clucking his ignorance about dollarization, despite the success it has had in other Latin American countries such as Ecuador and Panama:

 

And look at this impressive jackass of doom, quoted by The Guardian:

Benjamin Gedan, the head of the Wilson Centre’s Argentina Project, said he believed one word explained the scale of Milei’s victory: desperation.

“This vote just reeks of desperation. A lot of Argentines voted knowingly against their economic interests because they recognise that the status quo is catastrophic. And there was no reason to believe that the current finance minister could plausibly be the answer,” Gedan said. “It’s a huge gamble but not a completely irrational one.”

Gedan said the election of such a radical and inexperienced political outsider thrust Argentina into uncharted waters.

“The real risk is that Argentina melts down in his attempt to radically transform the economy. That would look like massive social unrest, national strikes by unions, potential political violence and stresses against the democratic institutions. There is a pretty dark scenario if in fact he pursues aggressively his maximalist vision for Argentina.”

Knowingly voted against their economic interests? Sounds like an eat-your-peas, "for your own good" type socialist, for whom government, the bigger the better, always knows best. What kind of idiot-minded statement is that?

Oh, the doom and gloom.

Meanwhile, on the Argentine left, it was sobbing misery:

But the crowds for Milei were massive.

Charlie Kirk puts it best:

 

 

 

The statements of ordinary Argentines said something very different:

“[I’m] happy, happy, happy,” said Francisco Jiménez, a 30-year-old delivery driver and Milei activist from Villa Soldati, a working-class area outside Buenos Aires.

He sounds like a man who just got a get-out-of-jail free card from the roaring poverty that is consuming 40% of the Argentinian population.

I liked this statement by a little old Argentina lady who had been terrified of Milei's fiery style:

 

Google Translate, with my corrections:

This is Malena, my grandmother. "I was terrified of Milei. I saw him as crazy." As Bullrich was left out of the runoff, she swore never to vote again in her life. "Today I vote for Milei and decided to give the 'crazy' a chance. We decide to BELIEVE." #elecciones2023

What a statement. It's like she heard the words of President Trump in 2016, addressing a black audience: "What do you have to lose?" 

What indeed? Her faith will be rewarded even as the globalist forces are undoubtedly plotting against Milei and his tried-and-true plan to make Argentina great again. The prosperity is going to happen. 

And when it does, the left will never be the same. This was a major blow to socialism, done by an uncompromising free marketer and believer in freedom.

Milei's vision will spread as prosperity returns to Argentina and set off a wave of new advocates, including even here:

 

 

Socialism may never recover.

Image: Twitter screen shot / common meme

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