Behind his television antics the man is a serious student of economics which he has studied for decades.

It certainly suits the two main coalitions to demonise the libertarian as a far-right populist demagogue and Milei’s cynically extravagant showmanship certainly contributes to that image, but again reality might not be so simple. There are those who might argue that the massive disenchantment with politics would run much deeper if it were not for the Javier Milei phenomenon, which boils down to another form of escapism as a leap into the unknown with his dollarisation a supreme flight from reality. Nor are we seeing politicians being held in awe elsewhere in today’s world.

There is indeed a widespread rejection of politics and polarisation among a saturated general public but there must be very few countries in the world where a sophisticated understanding of exchange rates or a knowledge of the names of the top brass of the International Monetary Fund and of professional economic consultants extends way beyond the elites. The two provincial elections so far have indeed seen a reduced turnout (around two-thirds in Neuquén and over 60 percent in Río Negro where the election was less contested) but not dramatically down – it will be interesting to see what percentages of the electorate cast their ballots in tomorrow’s voting in three provinces. Returning to the Book Fair, a strong demand for such escapist forms of literature as science fiction and poetry has been detected but the best seller thus far remains an analysis of Greater Buenos Aires, a sociology which lies absolutely at the heart of this year’s general elections supposedly facing a mass indifference.

To the cultural universe of the Book Fair there might be added another example from the sports world as a metaphor for Argentina today – the football club Independiente is hopelessly in debt like this country and yet the influencer Santiago Maratea has been effortlessly raising millions for his salvage fund. And yet while the fiction of a genius might tell us that the entire universe can be encapsulated into a single point, the reality is that Argentina’s current mood cannot be so easily summarised by the single word of “escapism” – the situation is too complex for any simplistic interpretation.

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