Does Javier Milei talk with a ghost canine whose dying he refuses to simply accept? Forced to answer questions on his psychological well being, the Argentine president’s workplace has lashed out at “disrespectful” hypothesis.
Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was requested about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, mentioned to have died seven years in the past.
Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and at the moment is believed to personal 4 copies he refers to as “four-legged youngsters.”
Or is it 5?
The president himself referred in an interview with CNN this month to his 5 dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton.
Conan, Milton, Murray, Robert and Lucas had been additionally among the many first Milei thanked after his election victory final August.
Yet, solely 4 mastiffs — monumental animals that may weigh as much as 100 kilograms (220 kilos) — have ever been seen in pictures with Milei.
At a press convention Thursday, Adorni was requested if Milei has 4 dogs — however sees 5 — and if that’s the case, whether or not he might be mentioned to have a agency grip on actuality.
Adorni shot again that it’s “disrespectful to explain the president as a person who speaks to issues that don’t exist. It appears to me to be completely disrespectful… it’s to mess together with his household.”
The spokesman didn’t make clear what number of dogs the president owns.
On Monday, Adorni answered an analogous query by stating: “I do not see what the distinction is whether or not or not it’s 4 or 5 dogs or 43 rabbits.”
– ‘The Madman’ –
Often described as eccentric, Milei raised eyebrows on the marketing campaign path by often dressing up as a superhero alter-ego “Captain Ancap” — brief for anarcho-capitalist.
He additionally repeatedly wielded a reside chainsaw for instance the deep cuts he would make to state spending.
And then there are the dogs.
According to journalist Juan Luis Gonzalez, writer of the unauthorized Milei biography “The Madman,” Conan died in 2017.
The canine had been named after the muscled fictional hero Conan the Barbarian.
Devastated by the loss, Milei despatched Conan’s cells to US-based agency PerPETuate, which states on its web site that 5 pups had been the results of a cloning course of, although solely 4 seem on a photograph that accompanies the put up.
Milei has mentioned the clones had been named after economists Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard and Robert Lucas.
Gonzalez’s e book additionally claims the wild-haired Milei consults all his dogs — lifeless and alive — with the assistance of a medium specialised in “interspecies communication.”
The medium, Celia Melamed, not too long ago instructed TN tv she had helped Milei “overcome the grief over his canine.”
And politician Rafael Bielsa — who had beforehand labored with the now-president within the non-public sector — instructed Argentine media Milei had spoken to him about receiving “divine” messages by way of Conan.
Milei himself has refused to reply questions on his dogs.
For Gonzalez, “whereas it might appear to be a laughing matter, it is a topic regarding the psychological well being of the president” and its affect on authorities.
Milei’s predecessor Alberto Fernandez entered the fray this week in a social media tiff with the incumbent, stating on X: “You should know, my canine doesn’t advise me and is alive.”
Protesters, too, have jumped on the probability to make enjoyable, with college college students proclaiming “Without science, no Conan!” at a rally in opposition to funding cuts on Tuesday.
One walked an invisible “canine” on leash on the finish of an empty collar with the identify “Conan” on it.
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