Argentine President Milei has passed Level One of his “Libertarian Revolution” First-Person Shooter (FPS).? It wasn’t easy. And it wasn’t Libertarian, except for the rhetoric.? But hey… won’t be the first time an FPS has a sexy title and a disappointing content.
Level One started with Milei’s government, on December 11th, 2023, and ended on June 14th, 2024, with the approval by the Senate of a washed-out version of Ley Bases.? Most people, even many of his followers, didn’t think he was going to make it. ?He did.
As most FPS, Level One was full of clichés:
- The protagonist does everything: in FPS games, the player’s character is indeed the central figure of the narrative.? His helpers and minions are called “Non-Playable Characters” (NPCs), with limited functionality.? Milei’s “Libertarian Revolution” is, indeed, all about himself.? From his Minister of Economy to his Minister of Human Capital, his sister and his dogs, Milei is the only one that matters.? Nobody can challenge his abilities.? The world of FPS games is tackling this cliché by providing NPCs with more important/helpful roles.? We’ll have to see if Milei’s “Libertarian Revolution” will include this feature in upcoming levels.
- Some NPCs can be more problem than help: no doubt here, some of Milei’s companions in adventure have become a hindrance.? He’s already let go of many of his closest collaborators for a variety of reasons.? One of the key problems of Milei’s “Libertarian Revolution” FPS is that he’s had to take over existing management in the public sector who, for obvious reasons, do not respond to him at all (we’ve referred in previous blogs to the “colonization” of public sector that government after government repeat ad nauseam in Argentina, regardless of their political orientation). ??After all, he had no real party when he started his government and has a limited number of potential public servants.? So, no surprise that his lack of party added to his despise for the public sector have played (and will continue to play) an important role in the game. Betrayals and disloyalties will abound – stay tuned!
- Shellshock moments: identified as another of the FPS’ clichés by fans, these are moments in which the protagonist is disoriented by an explosion which leaves him defenceless in what might be an imminent attack.? Milei’s “Libertarian Revolution” had many of those in Level One.? Our favourite? We pick the “food for the poor delivery fiasco”.
- Perfect cover:? a key one since the inception of FPS games is that fight environments always have a spot that is the perfect cover for the protagonist when ambushed.? In Level One, Milei’s “Libertarian Revolution” has used THE perfect cover over and over – Kirchnerism.? His followers use this at every single opportunity in social media, Milei’s addicted journalists never stop appealing to memory, and voters (particularly those who had to vote for him in the second round but have very serious doubts about him) use it as consolation (it can always be worse… we could end up having Kirchnerism back).? While still very effective, everybody knows that this perfect cover will lose its power eventually and new covers will be required to explain inefficient, contradictory and sometimes dangerous public policy.?
- Waves of enemies:? a typical situation in FPS games is the protagonist being attacked by waves of “bad guys” while he’s stationary.? “Libertarian Revolution” provides a lot of this type of action.? A cliché? Absolutely… many of the enemies are real, others are just for show, to create an impression of impending doom.? An original feature of “Libertarian Revolution” is Milei’s obsession with preaching about Libertarianism to world leaders and calling them “collectivists” at every single opportunity, making them see the error of their ways.? We haven’t seen a feature like this since “Revolutionary’s Quest: The Trotskyist Legacy.”
- The Voice guide: most FPSs include voices guiding the player through tasks.? Sometimes it is an actual character providing the guidance, sometimes a voice in the hero’s head.? We could fall in the obvious parallelism provided by Milei himself that he still talks to his dead dog Conan, but the Voice guide in this case seems to be his spokesman Mr. Adorni who keeps explaining everything that Milei does.? Adorni’s main skill is to change the narrative in various ways expecting people forget he said the opposite the day before (best example was when he explained the food for the poor was not being distributed because it was kept in storage for “emergencies”, when it consisted of yerba mate and dehydrated milk with July expiration dates).? So far as people “choose to believe”[1], these tactics work.
- Fortnite moments: “Libertarian Revolution” reminds players of “Fortnite”, a classic in the genre, that uses dancing as emote for communication, celebration and fun.? Milei’s stand-up-style speeches and his recent rock show/book launch at the Luna Park were some of the outstanding “Fortnite moments” in Level One.? Milei’s histrionics promise more of these in upcoming Levels.
- The Ally becomes the villain: typical Hollywood cliché, FPSs also use it a lot and “Libertarian Revolution” is no exception, although in this case, given only Level One has been released so far, it’s difficult to know to what extent it will be employed further.? Some of those who should be Milei’s strongest supporters (the so called “liberals”) have dared criticize him in public.? And Milei is deeply hurt by those criticisms.? He can tolerate his enemies’ attacks but hearing people like ex 90s Minister of Economy Domingo Cavallo criticizing his exchange rate policy is too much.? He can’t take it.? Milei’s key strategy here is name-calling and vilifying his ex-allies at every opportunity.
Milei’s “Libertarian Revolution” Level One was action-packed, that’s for sure.? Inflation has been going down to more manageable levels thanks to a traditionally neoclassical recipe of fiscal surplus, continuation of “el cepo” (aka heavily controlled exchange rate markets) and contractive monetary policy.? The government-triggered deep economic recession continues with Milei and his companions seeing signs of recovery everywhere (Level Two will be crucial here… the V-shaped recovery is unlikely to materialize, and people’s patience will be running at very low levels by then).? After six months of government, Ley Bases and the fiscal package have (almost) been approved by Congress.? Financial markets are disconcerted: they’d like to believe this is the real thing, but the paraphernalia of economic controls that have not been dismantled yet and the hard time getting legislation approved is making them doubt.? Milei would love it if they’d put their money where their mouth is – but that’s not how capitalism is played, no matter how hard you wish it were.
Level One of “Libertarian Revolution” was NOT Libertarian.? It wasn’t even Liberal.? It was a strange combination of old-fashion neoclassical economic recipes, financial engineering, weird allies, real and invented enemies, a lot of rhetoric and an impoverished, exhausted population who have been losing every single game they’ve tried for decades.? For now, most people choose to believe.? Get ready for Level Two.
[1] “I choose to believe” is a slogan coined by Argentine football/soccer fans when Messi won his first international title with Argentina, Copa America, in 2021 – basically, Argentinians decided that Argentina was going to win the World Cup next and acted accordingly.? For those of you not interested in football/soccer, let me remind you: they did win.? ?Public rhetoric about President Milei is following a similar pattern.? A slightly-higher-than-50% of the Argentine population have decided they choose to believe this time things will be different.? Now… let’s pay attention to the wording here: it is not that they BELIEVE in Milei; it’s that they have CHOSEN to believe in him because the options are worse than giving him a chance. About half of his followers are really his.? The rest voted for him in the second electoral round and, as such, will be the first ones to stop believing if economic recovery is delayed.
