There may be two Javier Mileis. One lives on Planet Earth and engages with people he said he loathed, like the “Communist” criminal leaders of China, and another fights fantasy battles in a parallel reality on social media. The next question is: which one will prevail?
The Canadian author Naomi Klein was not thinking about Milei when she published Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World in 2023. Instead, she was thinking about herself and how she became constantly mistaken on social media over many years for her namesake Naomi Wolf, who is American and moved from feminism in the 1990s to being a conspiracy theory instigator during and after the Covid pandemic.
Klein used her own experience to reflect on what she describes as a “doppelganger culture,” a reality “crowded with various forms of doubling, in which all of us who maintain a persona or avatar online create our own doppelgangers – virtual versions of ourselves.”
In the case of Milei, it is still not clear which is the real one and which is the double. Argentina’s President became a popular figure by shouting and insulting everybody on TV for years. Social media also helped him, especially during the pandemic. But it was never clear whether it was the character or the real person, to the point that many questioned his presidential bid in 2023 from a psychological rather than political point of view.
But Milei is not crazy. One year into office, it has become increasingly clear that he is a calculating politician who knows exactly how and when to time his wrath for the sake of his agenda objectives.
This week offered another prime example. At the G20 Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro, he played the anti-woke rebel in verse only to ink the summit’s entire woke-ish final declaration. Disruptive in language and social media video clips, compliant in action. He also completed his U-turn on China by graciously shaking hands and smiling at Xi Jinping, whose fat wallet is a matter of financial life or death for Argentina. He did give a stern look when forced by protocol to greet host Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but then allowed his economy minister to sign an agreement to explore ways to send more Argentine gas to Brazil in the coming year.
Milei is a master of self-branding, which, according to Klein, is a classical form of doubling, “an internal sort of doppelganging.” The Milei of this other world is aggressive and authoritarian, he believes he is always right and furiously attacks anybody who contradicts him, especially journalists who dare to give their own opinion. He repeats and retweets that he is the greatest fighter for freedom on Earth and that he is carrying out a glorious and unprecedented task in office.
The problem with brands is that they tend to be fixated and inflexible, incapable of expanding their identity to contain larger multitudes. The Milei administration is doing much better than expected in the field for which it was elected in the first place: the economy. These good times are not being matched by a change in the narrative to expand Milei’s governing coalition. The chainsaw character that Milei has created for himself is blocking his capacity to garner the support he would need when the going gets tough – which will happen sooner or later.
Instead of aiming for majorities, Milei’s political strategy confines him to the corner of an intense minority. Last week, his staunchest followers, who report politically to Milei’s powerful spin doctor Santiago Caputo, launched a political group that promised to become “the armed wing” of the ruling La Libertad Avanza – only to say later that the expression was “metaphoric” and that the only weapons they were in fact wielding were mobile phones.
This is exactly what happened to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s movement in the second of her two terms in office. Argentines can tolerate an intolerant minority in office, but only as long as it has good (or very good) results to show on the economic front. Very few Argentines will buy into the political diversions of a movement whose energy is placed on fighting windmills rather than improving real wages.
Milei might think it is too late, but he has time to define which type of leader he will be – the real one or the doppelganger. It will be important for his followers to get clarification too because the risk, as Klein puts it, is falling in love with your projection: it could well overtake you.
