Politics
Following Messi’s lead, Milei bids to separate stadium and state
Looming over the World Cup final is another rivalry: the bitter feud between Argentine President Javier Milei and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
For the past two years, Argentina’s libertarian-populist leader has been embroiled in a war of words with his progressive counterpart in Madrid. Milei has resented Sánchez’s efforts to cast him as a far-right firebrand, and responded by repeatedly insulting the Spanish premier and his wife, Begoña Gómez, whom he has repeatedly called “corrupt.”
In Buenos Aires, one leading political observer doesn’t expect the president to mix the World Cup final with his personal animus toward Sánchez.
“I can’t imagine him trying to turn this match into a political issue,” Martín Rodríguez Yebra, deputy managing editor of Argentina’s leading conservative newspaper La Nación, told Blue Light News. “It’s not in his interest.”
According to Rodríguez Yebra, who has spent years following the Sánchez-Milei feud, Argentina’s leader has identified Sánchez — one of the world’s most recognized left-leaning political figures — as a useful antagonist in his “cultural battle” against “woke forces around the world.”
“He uses Sánchez almost as a punching bag to demonstrate that he’s confronting the international left,” he said, adding that the tactic plays well among Milei’s most devoted followers.
But Rodríguez Yebra noted that for average Argentinians “who likely wouldn’t recognize Sánchez if he sat next to them in a café in Buenos Aires,” the contretemps is “a squabble that is seen as a random distraction” on most days, and which would be considered totally inappropriate to bring up in the almost sacred context of the World Cup final.
“There are no words to accurately describe the idolatry people feel for our current national squad, which is perhaps the most admired in modern Argentine history,” he said. “And they — and in particular [Lionel] Messi, in his role as the squad’s captain — have made clear that they will not tolerate attempts at politicization.”
In previous editions of the World Cup, Rodríguez Yebra said, Argentina’s national team had become mixed up with the country’s politics. The squad is widely considered to have been instrumentalized as a propaganda tool when the country hosted the 1978 tournament, when the government was in the hands of a military junta that carried out the forced disappearances of tens of thousands of political dissidents.
A few years later, legendary squad captain Diego Maradona didn’t hide his close relationship with center-left populist President Carlos Menem, with whom he appeared on the balcony of the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires following the country’s 1986 World Cup win. Menem would eventually make the striker his government’s official “sports adviser” and even gave him a diplomatic passport usually reserved for high-ranking officials.
Under Messi’s leadership, however, the national team has taken steps to distance itself from Argentina’s polarized political scene, and after winning the last edition of the World Cup, the squad declined an invitation from then-President Alberto Fernández to emulate Maradona and celebrate the victory at the presidential palace.
Rodríguez Yebra said the current squad captain appeared to have been shaped by his lengthy professional career with FC Barcelona, which played out in parallel with the rise of the Catalan separatist movement and the unauthorized attempt to declare the Spanish region’s independence in 2017.
“Despite the enormous pressure to do so, he never waded into the issue, and as captain for Argentina he’s taken the same approach and stayed on message,” he said. “Don’t mix us up in your politics: We’re athletes and we represent the entire country, not politicians.”
The La Nación journalist pointed out that following the semifinal match against England, Messi stayed away when some of the victorious Argentine players unfurled a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” (“The Falkland Islands are Argentinian”).
“He doesn’t want to be involved,” he said.
Rodríguez Yebra said Milei is a canny politician who attempts to align himself with overwhelming public sentiment and knows how to be pragmatic. That’s why his war of words with Sánchez has ultimately not had a significant impact on Spanish-Argentine relations.
“Despite the inflammatory rhetoric between our leaders, the high-level officials below them have continued working together on trade, investment and international issues, including the recently concluded EU-Mercosur trade agreement,” he said.
“Ministers continue meeting, and diplomatic channels remain open even as the presidents trade barbs,” he added. “Milei insults Sánchez when it suits him, and right now, given the team’s insistence to keep politics out of the match, it is not in his interest to do so.”
On Sunday, Argentina’s president will be playing the part of cheerleader-in-chief from Buenos Aires. While Sánchez will watch the match in person in New York, Milei will remain at home in an act of political superstition.
“In 1990 Menem traveled to Italy to watch our team play against Cameroon and he ended up presiding over our most shocking World Cup defeat,” Rodríguez Yebra said. “The episode was politically devastating for him, because it caused him to develop a reputation for being jinxed, and since then our presidents have steered clear of the matches.”
Rodríguez Yebra said Milei has every interest in doing whatever he can to ward off bad luck.
Rising unemployment and corruption cases involving close aides have eroded the president’s approval ratings, with around 60 percent of voters saying they disapprove of his performance. While the lack of a serious political rival means that the populist remains the clear front-runner ahead of next year’s presidential election, an Argentine win on Sunday would still be a godsend.
The same goes for Sánchez, should La Roja emerge victorious. Unlike Argentina, Spain’s unemployment is at a record low and the country’s economy is among the fastest-growing in Europe. But like Milei, the prime minister is grappling with damaging corruption scandals. Last month, the country’s former transport minister was handed a 24-year prison sentence for bribery, embezzlement and influence peddling, and earlier this week, Sánchez’s brother was found guilty of administrative misconduct after a regional court concluded he had been unfairly awarded a public sector position.
“This World Cup has been a welcome distraction that has already helped him enormously, and could benefit him even further if it results in our team’s victory,” Rodríguez Yebra said about Milei. “Even without engaging in politics, a win for our team is a win for him.”
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Maine’s former CDC Director Nirav Shah dropped out of the Democratic primary for Senate on Sunday, a day after pleading his case to delegates in Augusta.
“A few weeks ago, I entered this race because I could not accept the idea of Susan Collins gliding to a sixth term at the very moment Maine families are being forced to pay the price for her votes,” Shah wrote in a statement on X.
“Today, I am stepping aside, and I am doing it for exactly the same reason that led me to get in: we must defeat Susan Collins, and the Democratic Party must be unified to do it,” he added.
His statement follows Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to suspend her campaign.
Both Shah and Bellows were vying for the spot vacated by oyster farmer Graham Platner, whose platform gained traction but was overcome by allegations of rape, abuse and racism.
Democrats in the Pine Tree State are now scrambling to find a replacement for Platner, who pulled in millions from PACs such as Act Blue and Majority Forward.
More than 10 candidates threw their hat in the ring to earn the party nomination, but former state Sen. Troy Jackson (D) is leading the pack.
Shah endorsed Jackson on Sunday, arguing he was the best candidate to defeat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in November.
However, less than 24 hours ago, Shah claimed to be the most electable out of the crowded field of candidates to replace Graham.
“Senator Collins has been able to be elected and re-elected is that every cycle she peels off a small percentage of Democrats who cross over and vote for her. The key to defeating Senator Collins is achieving party unity,” Shah said on Saturday at the Maine Democratic Special Nominating Meeting.
“The candidate who can keep Democrats unified is going to be the candidate who is most able to defeat her. The reason why that matters is that I am the candidate that has the strongest case for electability,” the former Maine CDC director added.
Early in his campaign, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said Maine deserved a “better” candidate than Shah, criticizing the way he handled a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak while leading Illinois’ public health department.
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