50 years after its last coup, Argentina remembers painful legacy of dictatorship as Milei challenges narrative

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2. Absolutely. I sometimes refer to Trump as "America's Galtieri."

Like Cheeto, Galtieri was a murderous, elitist and bigoted psychopath who was well-liked by local Archie Bunker types on account of his talent for "looking and sounding like the common man" (unlike the stodgy, slick-haired figures that dominated the last dictatorship).

Galtieri was also quick to impose crushing austerity on his countrymen - while splurging on the country's already-wasteful military, and making sure elites could dollarize and offshore every asset they could claw at.

Besides ruining Argentina's (already-frayed) international standing with the Falklands War, he helped deepen the economic ruin already very much in full swing.

Argentina in 1980-82, was - economically - like having Bush transition straight to Trump, with no Obama or Biden in the middle.

He died at 76 of pancreatic cancer- likely brought about by decades of heavy drinking. He was also known for his fondness for young women (though maybe not quite that young).

One such young woman - a college-aged girl - testified to the time Galtieri visited her in her cell, and purred: "You live because I want you to live; you remind me of my daughter."

Galtieri was in fact Reagan-era Republicans' favorite Argentine official (especially Jesse Helms') - until the invasion.

Even then - Maggie had a hard time convincing Helms to quit his favorite Argentine.