The former president of the USA Donald Trump was one of the first to congratulate Javier Miley on his victory over Sergio Massa in Argentina’s presidential election: “I’m proud of you. You will radically change your country and truly make Argentina great again!”

But the 53-year-old self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist is not satisfied with radical change, but wants to put an “end to the decline of Argentina” and with a “model of freedom” make the country a “world power” again. “El Loco”, the “madman”, as he has been nicknamed for decades, appears with a chainsaw – a symbol he also used during his election campaign. Millay wants to bring a neoliberal shock to Argentina – a a country where inflation exceeds 140%, with the debt to the IMF reaching 44 billion dollars.

In addition, Millay wants to replace the Argentine peso, which he describes as “excrement of the political class”, with the US dollar, abolish the central bank and minimize public spending and the state, “this criminal organization”, reducing the 18 existing ministries to just 8.

Argentinians exhausted by the financial crisis

The winner of the election was a political outsider who almost nobody in Argentina knew until two years ago. In yesterday’s elections, however, he collected 35 million votes, winning in 23 of the 26 districts against the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa. A sweeping victory. Although Miley was presented as clearly inferior to Massa in the televised election debate, this did not play the slightest role – quite the opposite: many voters saw Miley as one of them, as someone who does not use the usual politicians’ jargon.

Popular anger against the ruling Peronist party, which has ruled for 16 of the last 20 years without managing to halt economic decline, is high. Equally great is the contempt for this “parasitic and useless caste,” as Millay calls the “establishment” that has been blamed for so many corruption scandals. In a country that until the 1950s was one of the richest in the world based on per capita income, now 40% live in poverty. The people of Argentina are desperate.

The election was primarily a protest vote – many believed in the slogan “it can’t get any worse anyway”, especially young men, who have only experienced crises. Miley, once a singer in a band that covered Rolling Stones songs, reminds them of a pop star.

Like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Millay managed to mount a successful campaign on social media, orchestrated by his sister Karina, a paper machete who until two years ago sold cakes on Instagram. And all this in a country under extreme polarization, whose citizens are united only by Lionel Messi and the Argentine national team.

A different… perspective on the dictatorship

Millay wants to set Argentina back decades socio-politically – for example by enacting a strict legal framework banning abortion and labeling climate change a “socialist lie”. Above all, however, the future president questions the number of 30,000 people who disappeared during the dictatorship. His vice-presidential candidate Victoria Villaruel speaks of 8,751 victims, constantly emphasizing that left-wing terrorism also had numerous victims. Also, the ESMA Naval School in Buenos Aires, a 17-hectare site that was the largest torture center in the dictatorship and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is now proposed to be used to build schools, which the country needs.

Anxiety inside and outside Latin America

As can be seen from the reactions of the South American states, Argentina could be isolated after Millay prevails. Brazilian President Lula, whom Millay describes as a communist, dutifully congratulated Millay on his victory, without even mentioning his name. For his part, the leftist president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, described the victory of the “extreme right” in Argentina as “sad for Latin America”.

Germany and E.U. are also closely following the developments in Argentina, as Millay’s election further complicates efforts to conclude a free trade agreement between the E.U. and Mercosur, the South American economic alliance of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

However, there are some obstacles to the radical agenda of the man who has even called the Pope a “wretched leftist”. The central bank does not have the US dollars for the country’s already complicated dollarization, and traditionally powerful unions are expected to stage weeks of strikes in response to Miley’s fiscal plans. At the same time, Millay is the president with the least support in Argentina’s Congress since 1983, with less than 20% of deputies and barely more than 10% of senators.

It remains unknown what will be the mark of Javier Millay in the history of Argentina. “Do you know the difference between a genius and a madman”, he asked recently, only to give the answer himself: “Success”.