Milei compares himself to ‘The Terminator’ in interview

President Javier Milei is known for his outlandish claims, but comparing himself to a cyborg assassin from the future might be considered pushing it.

Argentina’s outspoken head of state has now compared himself to ‘The Terminator,’ the eponymous character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1984 film, during an interview with the Honestly with Bari Weiss podcast.

"I come from an apocalyptic future to prevent socialism, like the Terminator!" declared Milei in the interview.

Playing up to his international image, the head of state went on to say he is delighting in the role of “the mole in the state.”

“I’m the one who destroys the state from within. It’s like having infiltrated enemy lines,” he declared.

Asked about his role and anti-Israeli protests on US university campuses, Milei returned to one of his favourite themes: the decline of Western values.

“You may remember when I went to Davos, my address started by saying that the West was in danger. Because basically we are obstructing and torpedoing the values that made the West great. And that has been happening because socialism has won the culture battle,” said the La Libertad Avanza leader.

“They fought a culture battle, and they won it. Not because their ideas were better than the ideas of freedom. Rather, libertarians didn’t fight the fight,” he added.

The remarks were aired the day after Milei promised to cut another 50,000 state jobs as part of his sweeping austerity drive.

During a speech at the 10th Latin American Business Forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s President claimed that he had made a “seven-point adjustment” in trimming public spending.

Upon taking office, Milei downgraded half the number of government ministries, turning them into secretariats. He claimed Wednesday to have reduced “the entire structure of government … by half.”

"We are going to end up laying off 75,000 people. We have already [laid off] 25,000," he told an audience of business leaders, investors and economists.

"Never has so much been done in six months as we are doing," he said. "We are not only putting the economy in order ... but we are also ending corruption, and that is why the political sector is raging," declared Milei.

– TIMES/NA