Javier Milei's explosive interview with Tucker Carlson: Socialism as a misery, criticism of the pope and advice to Donald Trump
The former Fox News host traveled to Argentina exclusively to speak with the country’s presidential favorite.
Tucker Carlson was in Buenos Aires recently. Far from being a trip for pleasure, where he could have enjoyed Buenos Aires culture, tasted the famous Argentine barbecue or even witnessed a good soccer match on the field of Racing Club de Avellaneda, he traveled exclusively to interview the politician of the moment. Javier Milei is a libertarian economist who is very close to becoming the next president of Argentina. In an interview of about 30 minutes, Milei explained his leap to fame, the reason for his opposition to socialism and gave advice to Donald Trump.
Within the electoral process of Argentina, there are Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primary Elections (PASO), where all parties choose the candidates who will represent them in the general election. Milei came out first in the PASO of August, reaping 29% of the votes, when the polls placed him around 18%. Now, he is best positioned to take office as president on December 10.
His anti-left discourse and his exotic hair soon captured international attention, the same one that led the former Fox News host to get on a plane to Buenos Aires, where he sat next to the economist and began asking him how he explains his sudden rise in politics. Milei explained that his personality comes from three different people: a former soccer goalkeeper, a rock singer and an economist specializing in growth. "I think that combination makes for an attractive television product," he said.
At the same time, he gave great importance to his libertarian ideas, which have managed to seduce young people tired of the Argentine political establishment. "Argentina is basically a country that has been embracing socialist ideas for 100 years, so the natural rebellion to the system was to be liberal and that rebellion always appears in young people," he continued.
"Socialism is a violent, murderous and impoverishing phenomenon"
The Lion, as he is nicknamed by his followers, usually does not have very affectionate words for socialism, which he says looks very attractive at first, but masks economic and above all moral problems. It starts from the premise that "where there is a need, there is a right", but "the problem is that the needs are infinite, the rights someone has to pay and the resources are finite".
In addition, it is an ideology that is based on "envy, hatred, resentment, unequal treatment before law and violence", which naturally contaminates incentives and generates poverty in its path.
Abortion and Hayek's fatal arrogance
In each of his public appearances, Milei recites from memory the following phrase from Alberto Benegas Lynch (m): "Liberalism is the unrestricted respect for the life project of others, based on the principle of non-aggression and defense of the right to life, liberty and private property".
On that basis, he justified his position against abortion. Since he adheres 100% to the aforementioned statement, it cannot go against the right to life, which he explained, is also supported in the natural sciences.
"The fact that life begins at the moment of conception and at that moment a new evolving being is generated. It is true that a woman has a right to her body, but that child inside the womb is not her body. Therefore, abortion is a murder aggravated by the bond and by the differential of forces," he said.
In addition, he remarked that part of the " fatal arrogance" that Friedrich Hayek wrote about in his book, since it involves deciding who lives and who does not. "They (socialists) think they are God, they are heretics. (...) In order to implement socialism, we must be omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. I mean they think they are God. And I'm going to tell you something, they're not God." he added.
"Pope Francis has an affinity for murderous communists"
Milei never hid his little (or no) sympathy for Pope Francis, the first Argentine supreme pontiff in history. The reason? His infatuation with authoritarian socialists.
"He plays politically and has shown affinity with dictators like Castro and Maduro. He has an affinity for murderous communists, in fact, he condemns them. He is condescending to all those on the left, even if they are real criminals," he added.
In addition, as he "considers that social justice should be the center of his mission," which according to his ideas implies theft, this puts Pope Francis directly "against what the 10 commandments say."
Some advice for Donald Trump
From a distance, Carlson asked for a message for Trump, whom the Argentine economist praised repeatedly since they share the rejection of socialists. According to Milei, Trump "understood perfectly that wealth comes from the private sector and that the state does not create wealth, but destroys it."
Therefore, he simply instructed him to "double up efforts to defend the ideas of liberty" and to give no truce to the American socialists.
Socialism, the climate agenda and Black Lives Matter
The presidential candidate understands that socialism lost the economic battle in 1961 when they had to build the Berlin Wall to prevent people from fleeing East Germany to West Germany. Far from stopping "the reds", they took the teachings of Antonio Gramsci and set out to "transfer the class struggle to other aspects of life", such as "the struggle between blacks and whites, radical feminism and the LGBT lobby ".
"I'm not going to do business with any communists"
As for the future international policy of a Javier Milei government, the candidate plans to take his moral values to the board of geopolitics. How? By not doing business with communist countries. "I am a defender of peace, freedom and democracy. The Chinese don't go in there, Putin doesn't go in there, Lula doesn't go in there. We want to be the moral beacon of the continent," he said.
However, he clarified that the Argentine private sector will be able to trade with whomever it wants, but that from the national state, it will not have ties with nations that do not represent in the least the aforementioned phrase of Benegas Lynch (h), whom the Argentine considers as his mentor.
Javier Milei and his philosophy of life
Alejandro Fantino, a popular Argentine television host, once asked Milei about the meaning of life. The economist revealed that his cell phone wallpaper is a photo with the acronym ANTF, "Joy has no end". The economist finds happiness in spending time with his dogs, whom he refers to as his "four-legged little kids," doing a little economics and spending time with his family. "With that I am happy," he said in that interview.
Closing the interview with Carlson, Milei reflected on the benefits of freedom, assuring that he would be able to die for them. "Life without freedom is not worth living. I seek to be a witness to living in freedom. Doing the right thing is not negotiable", he concluded.