Enter Milei: Performing Populism in TikTok

Populist leaders thrive in the attention economy, their rule-breaking flamboyance often overshadowing substantive policy debates. Javier Milei, a radical right-wing populist, seized the spotlight in Argentina’s 2023 Presidential Election through his disruptive antics, brandishing a chainsaw to symbolise spending cuts and fiercely denouncing ‘the political caste.’ This paper is part of a broader research project aiming to make sense of Milei’s unexpected victory, focusing on how his populist communication style resonated with economically distressed voters, especially among young people. The paper presents the results of an innovative content analysis that identifies the core components of Milei’s communications on TikTok. It compares Milei’s official videos with those of the main digital political influencer associated with him, @pelucamilei. We analyse not only to the verbal elements but also to the visual, tonal and stylistic ones. In recent years, as we move into an era dominated by visual media platforms like YouTube and TikTok, there has been a growing focus on the stylistic and performative features of populism. However, our understanding remains limited, especially outside Western democracies. Moreover, we know relatively little about the similarities and differences on how the official and influencers accounts use the platform as well as whether these changes once they are in power. Based on these gaps, the paper answers the following research questions: What are the primary ideological and stylistic (textual and visual) elements across Milei's official and proxy Tik Tok accounts during the election campaign and his first year as president? Did the ideological and stylistic content of the TikTok posts change following his electoral victory? To what extent and how did the two accounts make use of Tik Tok’s affordances in their content? Preliminary findings suggest that Milei’s version of populism on both accounts on TikTok is characterised by a distinct combination of right-wing libertarianism and bad manners, evident in the use of coarse terms like ‘caste’ and transgressive performances that challenge the rigidity expected in high politics. The strong presence of a thick ideology challenges the common perception of populist leaders as opportunistic vote-seekers without firm ideological commitments. However, this seems to be shifting to an extent, as his official TikTok content since taking office shows a softening of both his ideological rhetoric and bad manners, possibly reflecting the pressures of governance. Another challenge to conventional views of populism is that Milei’s thin populist core is centred primarily on anti-establishment appeals, with very little emphasis on the exclusionary and nativist rhetoric that has characterised recent populist movements in Europe and the US. The influencer account, on the other hand, demonstrates in some regards a more typical populist trait in its strong use of character assassination rhetoric, especially targeting journalists. In relation to the use of TikTok affordances, early analysis suggests they are highly limited in his official account but fairly prevalent in that of @pelucamilei.