When Voting for the Raging Lunatic Is the Rational Option

Argentina’s unhinged far-right president was a surprisingly predictable choice.

Taru Anniina Liikanen
7 min readSep 25, 2024
imaeg credit: Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation), CC BY 2.5 AR <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.

As soon as the news about far-right candidate Javier Milei’s presidential election win in Argentina last October traveled the world, friends and family started sending me messages.

“Oh my god, are you okay, isn’t he insane?”

Yep, no, and absolutely.

After his first ten months in office, I still hear my Argie friends act surprised when they find out someone voted for the guy, deeming the person complete trash and unworthy of their time for the rest of eternity.

“I don’t know anyone who would vote for him,” they say, clutching their imaginary pearls and refusing to leave their leftist or centrist bubbles.

I usually laugh. “Of course you do,” I say.

Because 57% of voters chose Milei. And there’s a reason for it.

Painfully Obvious and Preventable

In case you’re not familiar with Milei, here’s a video where comedian John Oliver explains who he is.

--

--

Taru Anniina Liikanen
Taru Anniina Liikanen

Written by Taru Anniina Liikanen

Stand-up comedian and recovering political ghostwriter. Finnish by birth, porteña at heart. Bad jokes frequent.

Responses (2)