Milei leadership qualities questioned as Argentina’s runoff approaches

Javier Milei suffered a setback in the first round of Argentina’s presidential election on October 22, falling far short of his most optimistic hopes for an outright landslide victory.

But in one of his first television interviews after the defeat, he had something positive to focus on, having just secured the support of third-place candidate Patricia Bullrich in his runoff against first-place finisher and economy minister, Sergio Massa.

However, the interview was memorable for the multiple meltdowns Mr. Milei had on air. First, the candidate got into an argument with the camera crew over the noise they were making in the background.

“Let’s start by agreeing that this noise level is unusual and we are discussing complex issues. If I make a mistake, I will be publicly shredded, and no one will mention the background noise that killed me,” said Mr. Milei angrily.

The noise was indeed unusual, as a labor dispute at the station meant that the usual professional crew was not available that day. But Mr. Milei’s eccentric ranting continued later in the interview.

Discussing an AI-generated meme that he posted on X (formerly Twitter) that showed a lion (one of Mr. Milei’s nicknames) hugging a duck (representing Ms. Bullrich), the libertarian economist launched into an almost incomprehensible tirade that included the strangest of sex metaphors.

“Has anyone seen the metrics on that tweet? It has over 250,000 likes. It has close to 16 million views. It has 1 million likes on my Instagram account alone. What I’m saying is … just like there’s a fool, or three fools,...