ENEMY OF THE STATE

Javier Milei's plan to remake Argentina begins with waging war on the government.

- JON LEE ANDERSON

Did I want a selfie? Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, was offering. So many of his supporters wanted them; the Internet is full of pictures of him with ecstatic fans, regional leaders, and such international fellow-travellers as Elon Musk. In his office, he adopted his customary pose, his face angled toward the good light, his lips pursed, two jaunty thumbs up. The stance seemed naggingly familiar, and then I realized that it recalled the psychotic character Alex from Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange." "Naranja Mecánica?" I asked. Milei's eyes sparkled, and he nodded, cackling, then obligingly resumed the pose.

For Milei, a self-described "anarchocapitalist" determined to remake his country, this punkish presentation is not incidental to his success. His supporters refer to him as the Madman and as the Wig a reference to his hairdo, an unkempt shag with disco sideburns. Milei has said that his hair is styled by the "invisible hand" of the market, but, during my visit, his stylist, Lilia Lemoine, stopped in to adjust it. "She wants me to look like a cross between Elvis and Wolverine," he said. (Lemoine, who had recently been elected as a legislator with Milei's party, was formerly a cosplayer, a special-effects producer, and, for a time, Milei's girlfriend.)

Milei, who is fifty-four, came late to politics. Before he won a seat in Congress, in 2021, he was a low-profile economist, and then a frequent guest on talk shows, famous for explosive denunciations of the government. Argentina, after a century of economic struggles, was in crisis. As Milei campaigned for President, the inflation rate climbed to more than two hundred per cent, and roughly forty per cent of the population was living in poverty. Milei earned a following by blaming the trouble on a corrupt caste la casta that included politicians, journalists, trade unionists, and academics.