President Javier Milei said he was an admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but he received the Ronald Reagan Award this week from the advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). Interestingly, Milei has yet to cut taxes significantly, except for the wealth tax on the rich. However, he says he will do so once his chainsaw-led budget balance is consolidated. The ATR – and many Argentines – still trust him.

Reagan isn’t someone Milei has mentioned much, despite his dedication to all things American. A recent biopic titled Reagan, directed by Sean McNamara, highlights the 40th US president’s desire to push for an agenda of reform and fight communism – two things Milei seeks to emulate, even as he doesn’t seem to be many communists these days. .

Reagan knew he needed allies for his work. One of the film’s highlights is when, shortly after his inauguration, he tells one of his aides his vision for engaging with other political leaders: “The person who agrees with you 80 for 80 percent of the time is a friend, not a friend. 20 percent enemy. Reagan notably developed a personal relationship and even friendship with Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, a Democrat who was Speaker of the House of Representatives. They agreed that they were both of Irish descent.

Presidential legacies are typically built over time, and it’s easier to appreciate the positives from a distance than in the heat of current events. Thirty years later, the way Peronist Carlos Menem carried out neoliberal reform similar to what Milei is trying to do now seems more acceptable, with the Riojano president’s charm and showbiz personality softening the edges. Even Menem’s special friendship with actress and TV personality Amalia “Yuyito” González makes Milei’s romance with the same star today seem like a calculated attempt to rekindle some of that vibe from the 90s.

But the president seems to reverse Reagan’s equation: disagree with me 20 percent of the time, and you’re my enemy 80 percent. To Milei’s detriment, he’s not the only one following this pattern. The unnecessary conflict between him and his vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, is a perfect example. It’s unclear what specific policy areas the two disagree on, but the relationship has deteriorated to the point where they are no longer on speaking terms. Their teams cannot even communicate fluently enough to ensure a temporary, smooth transition of power when the president is – as he often is – abroad.

You don’t have to go back far to find precedents for such paralyzing power struggles. In the 1990s, Menem clashed with his vice president, then-governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Eduardo Duhalde, in a brawl that cost them the 1999 elections. More recently, Cristina Fernández Kirchner and Alberto Fernández ( in this order, despite the official version of the presidential list that they shared in 2019) could have resolved their political differences by 20% on service rates public relations, the relationship with the IMF and budgetary policy with half the difference. chat for an hour over coffee if they wanted. Instead, they treated each other as 80 percent enemies, effectively destroying the Frente de Todos government they had created.

Politicians, like other human beings, have the capacity to learn from their mistakes. Or not? Judging by the fight between Fernández de Kirchner and his favorite former protégé, Buenos Aires provincial governor Axel Kicillof, learning is easier said than done. They probably agree on 100% of policy issues; their differences are purely political, even psychological, due to Fernández de Kirchner’s relationship with his son Máximo Kirchner, leader of the former youth organization La Cámpora.

Don’t like Reagan? What do you think of Einstein’s quote: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. » Okay, maybe Einstein never even said that, but who cares in this age of social media parallel realities?

One might assume that the Mileis and the Kirchners agree on very few points, not even 20 percent. And now they are sworn enemies. But what if the small fraction of things they agree on are the worst possible things, like ignoring corruption and abusing power for their own political interests? Having such enemies would be very bad news for Argentine democracy.