Personalism is a pervasive phenomenon in Latin American politics. This article examines the rise of Javier Milei in Argentina as a particular variety of electoral personalism in a country that has undergone a profound economic and social crisis. We argue that Milei combined self-promotion appeals (similar to recent cases like Nayib Bukele in El Salvador) with context-specific appeals (such as salient ideological rhetoric and moral content) to blame the crisis situation in Argentina on the Argentine political class, pejoratively depicted as the casta. To support our theoretical argument, we provide empirical evidence based on qualitative and quantitative text analyses of Milei’s public appearances and social media posts to identify the salience of each particular appeal in his presidential campaign. Finally, we use public opinion data to illustrate how Milei’s electoral discourse appealed to the Argentinean voter, which ultimately accounts for his electoral success.
