The Hero of Freedom: A Discursive Analysis of Javier Milei’s Presidential Campaign Closures in 2023

Abstract

This article identifies the discursive strategy of “extreme or radical” leaderships. With that in mind, it inquires the discursive content of Javier Milei’s campaign closings before the Open Simultaneous and Obligatory Primaries (PASO) and the general elections, celebrated between August and October 2023 in Argentina, from a sociosemiotic perspective. The study concludes that Javier Milei’s leadership generated attraction and adherence by a “rhetoric of rejection” towards “the political caste” during the first closing and by a “hyperbolic rhetoric”, as the “resurrection or illumination” of the hero was witnessed, during the second campaign closing. In this manner, it advances in the knowledge of a case that, because of its novelty, remains little explored and delineates possible investigation agendas around leaderships and democratic quality.