Populist leader alleged to have ‘copied word for word’ a monologue by TV show’s fictional president Jed Bartlet
Argentina’s rightwing populist president, Javier Milei, has been accused of plagiarising a chunk of his recent speech to the United Nations general assembly from the political drama The West Wing.
“It seems like fiction, but it isn’t,” the left-leaning Buenos Aires newspaper Página 12 reported on Friday, claiming Milei had “copied, word for word, a monologue” by the television show’s fictional president, Josiah “Jed” Bartlet.
Suspicions over Milei’s address surfaced this week when the political columnist Carlos Pagni flagged the “extraordinary” similarities between part of the president’s speech and words uttered by Martin Sheen’s Bartlet 21 years earlier. “Didn’t anyone else notice?” Pagni wrote in the newspaper La Nación, before transcribing the words of both men.
“Suspicious were raised early when President Milei departed from his typical Spanish and began speaking not only in perfect English, but with a slight New Hampshire accent. Further concerns were raised at the end of the speech where he told waiting reports to refer any questions to his press secretary CJ Cregg.” /s
I ate your onion and was about to quibble about the New Hampshire accent.
“Okay, what’s next?”
The Jackal
What it it with right wingers and stupid hair?
They need to look like cartoon characters to hold short bursts of attention from their fans.
The image they project is all a part of the grift. All style, no substance.
And plagiarized speeches?
The West Wing was great - I’d take a President Bartlett over our present options any day.
Literally two weeks ago at the White House for the 25th anniversary of the show… what an insane orator.
What’s Magic Head doing there?
Jed Bartlett 2024!
His dog told him to do it, so you can’t really blame him, right?
To be fair, he can’t afford that quality of writing.
It’s only stupid if it doesn’t work.
The likeness between the two speeches raised Argentinian eyebrows and was attributed by one newspaper to the West Wing obsession of Milei’s chief strategist, Santiago Caputo. “Fanatical about the screenwriter [and creator of the series] Aaron Sorkin, Caputo has watched the whole of The West Wing between seven and nine times,” La Nación reported this year.
So… 8 times?
No, I think the phrasing means 7, 8, or 9 even though technically neither 7 or 9 are between 7 and 9, it’s like figurative
Aaaah the Herman Cain method. Be the best, like no one ever was!
Way worse places to steal your speeches from
Well, if I remember correctly, Milei’s thing is reining in the budget or something, right? I guess that’s one way to save money!
Perhaps even funnier, this year marks the 25th anniversary of The West Wing. The reason I know that is a new West Wing YouTube celebrating the anniversary just appeared and starting posting videos of the highlights.
If you visit this channel and look at the top video, you find the exact video he plagiarized the speech from. https://youtu.be/sZ_Q-3AhoAs
So this wasn’t a speech he likely remembered and plagiarized, this is likely just a helpful YouTube recommendation.
Yall… “libertarian” isn’t necessarily right or left.
It is important to notice that political labels mean different things in different parts of the world and at different points of time.
In contemporary US politics libertarian is usually used to describe a set of political values that advocate liberal social policies with conservative economic policies. This means they don’t fit neatly on a left/right spectrum because they (mostly) align with Democrats on social issues and Republicans on economic issues.
Libertarians can be seen as left of the right and right of the left.
So which is this guy? A more left or right libertarian?
Libertarian in the US tends to mean more right leaning. The left social issues they support tend to be rather superficial self serving issues like decriminalization.
Exactly. Every contemporary US libertarian I’ve come across is a fervent right wing supporter that wants legal weed.
He’s exactly what we think. Criticizes international bodies, aligns with Trump, Bolsonaro, and Netanyahu. He silences critics and uses force against unions.
He’s a right wing extremist. Like all libertarians.
That’s inaccurate, there’s no such thing as a right wing libertarian, just a fascist who wants corporations to absorb the state instead.
Yeah, we’re saying the same thing. I’ve never met a libertarian that wasn’t in favor of Corporate Feudalism.
Not quite.
I’m saying they aren’t libertarians.
Then there are no libertarians.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism
Might want to read the first couple of paragraphs
Yup that reads like they let a libertarian write it. But none of those individual freedoms mean a damn when they go after the government protecting them. Ergo, they are either supporters of Corporate Feudalism or useful idiots for the would-be Aristocracy.
But… there are libertarians, this is an objective fact… Some folks are so extremely left that any other political opinion is to the right of them. You may need to come back a little towards the center.
Edit: In contemporary US politics libertarian is usually used to describe a set of political values that advocate liberal social policies with conservative economic policies. This means they don’t fit neatly on a left/right spectrum because they (mostly) align with Democrats on social issues and Republicans on economic issues.
Okay? I think you missed what was going on there. I agree there are libertarians, I do not agree that they have any meaningful participation in the left. Their ideas about small (or no) government completely invalidate everything they say about social issues. The corporations will set and enforce the rules if we don’t have a government capable of doing so.
This is just objectively wrong…
Which part?
He doesn’t consider himself a right-wing extremist, yet he hangs out on Truth social, and admitted to it himself. That tells us all we need to know about what kind of person he is. Most people who aren’t rather far right wing don’t hang out on truth social, a platform by conservatives, for conservatives.
Oh I checked out his policies and he’s a far right populist corporate hack for sure.
Yeah it’s easy to spot when you know what to look for. Even if they do try to hide it, which this guy did a shitty job at.
The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for The Guardian:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this sourceLa Nacion (Argentina) - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for La Nacion (Argentina):
MBFC: Right-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - Argentina
Wikipedia about this sourceNot the first time also
Reverse Wolverine strikes again!
