Milei's Marxist culture wars

Argentina’s President Javier Milei considers himself at the front lines of a culture war that’s not only about economic ideology, but ultimately about power. Much like several of his fellows that fall under the “new right” category, the self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” and libertarian followers believe that the “global left” has come to dominate disputed territories in the realm of culture – from academia to the arts – that help shape our common sense and ultimately perpetuate a “lefty” ideology that begets socialism. In their view, it’s these progressive cultural inclinations that have led to the decadence of the West. And if left untamed, could result in the utter failure of human civilisation. 

In their conception, Milei and his La Libertad Avanza party must prove that their ideology is superior in achieving economic success, while at the same time instilling a different set of values that are diametrically opposed to “woke” culture which will free humanity from the chains that allegedly prevent it from embracing the “ideas of freedom.” Interestingly, this sociological explanation is very close to one of the core concepts of Karl Marx’s dialectical materialism, where the base (the modes of production) interacts with the superstructure (which broadly speaking could be understood as culture, or general mindset about the world and society), both feeding off and into each other.

Despite Milei’s absolute hatred for Marx, the conception of the culture wars that he and the global “new right” is waging is very Marxist at its origin, and probably explains why the left was indeed so good at dominating key cultural territories in order to impose its ideology almost to a subconscious level. Indeed, these culture wars aren’t new, but part of an eternal struggle that could be constructed under Georg Wilhelm Hegel’s dialectics. “For Hegel, historical development proceeds not in a straight line but in a spiral and leading upwards to growth and progress … where action follows reaction, from the opposition of action and reaction a harmony or synthesis result,” wrote writer Jack Fox-Williams in a piece in Philosophy Now magazine. History is therefore created and dynamised by these opposing forces (thesis vs. antithesis, ultimately resulting in synthesis).

Following in this line of thought, the current state of the culture wars is evidently a reaction to hegemony that progressive concepts achieved, particularly in the immediately preceding period. Both in Argentina and the United States, to take two examples, it had become politically incorrect to question issues like sexuality and gender, while it seemed self-evident that rich elites were subjugating the popular classes. This did lead to the abuse of progressive ideology, for example in Argentina, where Kirchnerism co-opted the human rights organisations and ultimately tainted their mission with political ideology, while allowing corruption to flow through them. The rise of characters such as Donald Trump in the US, and Milei here in Argentina, is directly tied to their level of political incorrectness and they’ve become equally savage in pushing culturally as far as they can in the other direction.

Whether these actors truly believe in the ideology they're pushing isn’t all that important, but they have clearly identified its potential to build political capital. In Trump’s case, it would seem that he is more pragmatic, ultimately adopting certain ideals that were part of the identity of the Republican Party because he had effectively co-opted it. With Milei and his anarcho-capitalism, it seems a bit more genuine, even if many times he falls into contradictions. But outside of speculating as to what’s going on in their minds, what is clear is that the political use of “right-wing populism” has been extremely gratifying to the leaders of the “new right,” which speaks to the acuteness of their strategist’s vision. 

In the United States, at the beginning it was probably Steve Bannon who was pushing the rhetoric, while now billionaire Elon Musk appears to be at the forefront of the culture war battle, with Mark Zuckerberg trying to jump on the bandwagon. In Argentina it was apparently Santiago Caputo, the star political advisor who is part of the “iron triangle” along with the president and Sister Karina, the head of state’s presidential chief-of-staff. Caputo, dubbed “Kremlin Magician” in the media, was called out by Milei as the architect of his successful political campaign and regards himself as a sort of political commissar within the administration. It’s interesting to see how Soviet concepts come up time and time again. Caputo has become one of the most powerful individuals in the country, with no strings attached, as he has no formal role and technically is a freelancer. He seems to rejoice at the image that the media paints of him, in great part probably influenced by him. He’s also increasingly popping up in controversial stories, especially tied to his control of the SIDE intelligence services and the ARCA tax collection agency.

Another key element is the predominance of social media as a major channel of communication in today’s society. Barack Obama was credited with running the first major digital presidential campaign, at the time leveraging the growing popularity of Facebook. In Argentina, Mauricio Macri had been very successful, in great part advised by Ecuadorean political strategist Jaime Durán Barba and Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña. Caputo, who worked under Durán Barba during the Macri years, seems to have built a powerful communications team that effectively uses social media platforms, mainly X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, in order to pump out their message, while attempting to silence anyone they dislike. Through social media, they managed to create a character around Milei using clips from his appearances on late night TV shows — where he “tamed lefties”— and memes. They built networks of influencers and interconnected accounts that helped to take the message viral. But they also tapped into a repressed feeling of anger and discontent that is global. It worked wonders from a political standpoint in Argentina, but it also has given them the opportunity to position Milei as one of the global leaders of the “new right.” They have unleashed “anti-wokeness,” making it politically correct to be politically incorrect.

At the end of the day, the culture wars of today are very similar to those of the recent past. Milei and his troupe have made them extremely visible, and in great part they have become a useful tool in day to day communication. They help the Milei administration build or label enemies, simplifying the level of discourse in order to consolidate the idea that, “you are either with us or against us.” A political classic. It allows them to dominate the conversation, particularly when certain things are going as well as they’d like. And it helped them win an historic presidential election against the two hegemonic coalitions that had dominated Argentine politics for decades. There’s no way they won’t milk that strategy to the last drop.