March 1st. 2026: Buenos Aires.
Donald Trump’s gave his address to the nation on February 24th.. It was long and boring and full of lies but that is par for the course with Trump; in his address to the nation Donald Trump was careful that all of his Republican followers were present to support him in congress, Milei was accompanied by his loyal ministers and deputies but he only has just over 40% so he filled the space with visitors; mainly young fans and with yellow armbands like those given out on entering a concert or a rave. Trump’s Republicans control more than 50% of the US House of Representatives but if polls are an indication he will lose a third of those seats in November especially if his latest illegal war for Israel in Iran goes as badly as it could.
Just five days later it was Javier Milei’s turn in Buenos Aires. Both speeches (Trump and Milei) had striking commonalities with a deeply divided congress screaming at each other and a president that belittled his political opponents demonstrating wanton autocratic cruelty.
In the streets in front of the Congress before the event the Argentine military was evident. A few military were armed and in fatigues working security but the majority were on horseback. The presidential guard is called the Granaderos. Young military men who travel on horseback (or goose-step for tourists between the pink house and the cathedral in the Plaza de Mayo where they are both located). The Mounted Grenadiers of General San Martín guard the president and the tomb of general San Martín. San Martín was an Argentine revolutionary hero, who under Bolivar and with Sucre and O’Higgins destroyed the last Spanish occupation forces in Ayacucho, now Peru. The Grenadier’s horses had been left way too long waiting in the street heat and by the time Milei eventually arrived the inevitable result was horse shit and sweaty soldiers.
A few Milei fans came to the security barriers, maybe a third as many as the police and military. The street where they waited is called Avenue de Mayo (for May 1810) the first revolutionary revolt in Argentina against Spanish forces: which was crushed by Spain, in 1819 they succeeded. It connects the Pink House and the Federal Congress two Kilometres away, Many awaited Milei’s automobile to salute him not all in a friendly way. Some shouted sorrete from their apartments on the route –a local greeting similar referring to the same materiale left in the streets by the president’s guards horses but there were also a few older members of the public who had come out in their Sunday best to wave at their president. Younger poorer Argentines were much less intent on welcoming their president, they were trying to find a place to sleep away from the police.
As I walked home through the dark streets of the local barrio next to the Congress plaza some young men were collecting cardboard for their beds near the overflowing trashcans in the street three blocks from the plaza Congreso. There was an intense smell of urine. It would be days till the rain would wash these plastic bins. When the rain comes the homeless will move into doorsteps to stay dry.
Homeless numbers have exploded since Milei took power with just the Communa 1 of the city (my barrio where the Congress is based) now having as many homeless on its streets as there were in all of the 15 communas of the city just years back (when Buenos Aires city government still counted city-wide).
Milei’s speech, like Trump’s, included lambasting his opponents. While in Trumps case he got a lot of stick for his hateful treatment of American residents without citizenship (and killing a few that were citizens through his ICE paramilitary groups) and he accused these critics of being unamerican. In Milei’s case he opted for direct slander stopping his speech to call the opposition: “Ignorant cockroaches”, “assassins”, “thieves” and “corrupt beasts”. The shouting from all sides reminded one of a beer brawl in a bar. Within the Congress building Milei balconies of the Congress building with his vacuous fans.
Milei’s own fans from his LLC libertarian parties and their guests who filled the building, screamed “liberty; liberty; liberty; liberty” drowning out Milei’s critics and celebrating his cruelty. The Argentine congress sounded more like a football stadium or a drunken rugby club. Milei ended his speech with his signatory “Viva la libertad carajo!” (up with liberty damn it!). Then he called to make the America’s great again in his stammering English.
As the speech ended the Congressional announcement went out ” that the announcer noted “that we have listened to the speech by Dr. Javier Milei”, a common fallacy. Javier Milei may claim to have a PhD but he is no doctor and he doesn’t even have a PhD. Milei has received an honorary ‘doctorate’ from one of the members of the audience whose private university, ESEADE, is not registered in Argentina for giving out doctorates, (neither real nor honorary). Javi doesn’t care! He wrote that he had a doctorate from the University of California on the cover of his latest plagiarised book. That too was a lie and prompted the recall of the book for legal reasons. The Milei family are not known for their morals but they definitely speak a lot about morality as they steal from the state and bribe congress for their votes.
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