Milei criticized for linking the left to the attack on Trump
We share a note published in Página 12 on July 15, 2024 in relation to the attack on Donald Trump, in which Leandro Morgenfeld , specialist in studies on the United States and co-coordinator of the CLACSO Working Group on Studies on the United States , participates.
Juan Gabriel Tokatlian described the Argentine president's tweet as "shameful" and his accusations against socialists and democrats as "utter fantasy." Leandro Morgenfeld, historian and specialist in US studies, echoed this sentiment. The government's inner workings.
President Javier Milei asserted, in response to the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, that the attack was the work of “the international left.” This claim was challenged by Argentine analysts; historian Leandro Morgenfeld pointed out that Milei “sees communists everywhere” and that his view “is not shared by any world leader, beyond some expressions of the far right in other countries.” International relations specialist Juan Gabriel Tokatlián also addressed the issue , calling the president's statement “utter fantasy.”
Milei tweeted, after the attack on Trump, that it was an act of the “international left” and further suggested that the Democrats might be behind it. “The desperation of the international left, which today sees its nefarious ideology expiring, is no surprise, and it is willing to destabilize democracies and promote violence to cling to power. Panicked at losing at the polls, they resort to terrorism to impose their retrograde and authoritarian agenda, ” he wrote on social media.
Foreign Minister Diana Mondino did not publicly endorse this interpretation, leading some to believe that Milei's remarks were merely a personal opinion. However, other officials, such as Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona, supported him . "The left is running out of tools to stop him and is resorting to violence," he stated on the program X. Bertie Benegas Lynch also expressed the same view: according to the La Libertad Avanza congressman, the attack on Trump was the fault of "the left," which "is desperate and is resorting to the violent tactics that are its hallmark."
None of the information released so far supports Milei's theory. The attacker, who was killed by state agents, was 20 years old and, according to the FBI, acted alone. He was a Republican voter, although he also reportedly made some financial contributions to the Democratic campaign. There is no evidence that he belongs to an international terrorist organization.
“Milei, at record speed and against all odds, even in the United States, came out to endorse this narrative of 'it's the left's fault'—or 'it's globalism's fault'—assuming something absurd, like saying that Joe Biden's government is a left-wing government. His idea is not shared by almost any leader in the world, beyond some expressions of the far right in other countries,” Morgenfeld told Página/12 .
The historian is a researcher at CONICET and coordinates the CLACSO research group on the United States. “Accusing the left is a tactic employed by Milei, who sees anything that isn't his own—ideas that are marginal from an economic standpoint, given the paleolibertarian or far-right orientation of his government—as a battleground. He has an absolutely anachronistic and overly ideologized view of how the world and current geopolitics are structured. He imagines he's on a Cold War crusade. He sees communists everywhere: he accuses presidents who have nothing to do with communism, like Lula, of being communists; he sees the left everywhere, to the point that he can imagine that a representative of the global financial capitalist establishment, like Biden, is a leftist. And he lumps everything together under that label: any government, movement, or idea that proposes a welfare state, or that the state should regulate or intervene in the economy, is, in his eyes, leftist, socialist, communist.” "This is very dangerous because Milei is instrumentalizing Argentine foreign policy and his position as president for his internal political and electoral gain," he said.
According to sociologist Juan Gabriel Tokatlián, "Javier Milei's tweet is shameful, firstly because he insinuates that the international left was responsible for the attack, a complete fantasy, and secondly because he says that it is a left 'that clings to power,' which implies that the Democrats were tacitly behind this."
Tokatlian stated this in radio interviews. When it was mentioned that the Spanish far-right leader Santiago Abascal, head of Vox, and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had spoken in similar terms to Milei, he indicated that it was predictable. "Of course they're going to say that."
Morgenfeld agreed that "the far right worldwide—and Milei is demonstrating this—will try to use the attempted assassination of Trump to portray themselves as victims. Their narrative will be 'we are the ones who defend the free world and freedom, and the left,' even though the attack had nothing to do with the left, 'they are endangering the free world.'"
“Milei is only interested in foreign policy insofar as it allows him to enhance his own and his party’s image,” the historian added. “He constructs a narrative, as in many aspects of his government and his discourse, with completely fabricated data or blatant lies. This is one of them: attributing the attack to the left when there is no indication or proof of that.”
"Milei wrote his tweet without any information, adding to the confusion. He knows that many of his followers won't verify who fired the shot or what their motives were, but will instead rely on their own assumptions. This strategy, which was successful in his administration, will pay off for him both in the media and electorally. He's constructing a narrative that there's a left wing threatening the forces of freedom, democracy, and the free world, when we know the opposite: there's a growing authoritarianism on the part of these far-right forces that are encroaching on collective rights and democracies. They're also targeting journalists who have a critical view of fake news and these narratives based on lies."
