Anything can happen this Wednesday in Argentina.

Javier Milei took office on December 10th and has already faced three street protests. This Wednesday, he faces the first attempt at a nationwide general strike, called by the CGT, the General Confederation of Labor.

Will it work? If it doesn't, if it's a half-hearted strike, like the three street protests, Bolsonaro's friend will be strong enough to pressure Congress and impose more than 300 changes to laws in all areas.

If the strike fails to impose the strength of the unions, Milei will turn against the CGT, social movements, left-wing picket groups, Congress, and Peronism, and suppress any possibility of a short-term mass reaction against his government.

But if the unions paralyze Argentina, it will create a scenario for impasses with unpredictable outcomes. Journalist Eduardo van der Kooy, editor and columnist for Clarín, summarized Milei's assertive stance in an article whose title is a prediction: the character could swallow the president whole.

Milei doesn't accept being contradicted. He's certain he has popular support to move forward and reign like an emperor. And he acts like an influencer, not the president of the Republic, firing off up to a dozen tweets per hour.

He attacks the opposition, summons potential allies for the war, and tries to convey the certainty that he was chosen to do as he pleases. 

Eduardo van der Kooy says that Milei combines intransigence and exaggerated optimism, because he may have been taken over by the persona he created for the election.

Is that really the case? Is Milei a character created to amplify the fascist leanings of the economist who calls himself libertarian, or is he entirely like that? 

Is Milei a character even in Davos? Is she an out-of-control caricature when she insults even the intelligence of the global capitalist elite and says that the world is in danger because of the advance of socialism, the power of women, and actions for social justice?

Bolsonaro also came to be seen as a character. Even before being elected, he threatened to kill his enemies. In government, he withheld the Covid vaccine and, when deaths multiplied, said he wasn't a gravedigger. 

He cut social programs, adopted immoral attitudes, was denounced for various crimes, from money laundering to falsifying vaccination certificates, and mocked the justice system – and yet he almost got re-elected.

Bolsonaro remained in power until the end, striving to secure the loyalty of his core social base. Milei copies him with the dedication of a good student, reaffirming the ideas that got him elected.

But there are signs that he may be betrayed by arrogance. Research by the Analogías Consulting firm, commissioned by the newspaper Página 12, shows that Milei has the approval of 50% of the population. It's a high rate, but right after being elected he had an approval rating of 55,6%. 

Other figures are more unfavorable: 47% believe he has authoritarian attitudes; 56% reject the removal of labor rights; 48,4% do not want the privatization of state-owned companies; 51,2% disapprove of changes in the areas of culture and education; 63,4% refuse to accept his plan to bring domestic food prices closer to international prices; and 53,3% condemn the possible dollarization of the economy.

But how, facing strong rejection of his main proposals, does Milei still have the support of 50% of the population? Perhaps because his voters don't want to express their disillusionment with him and admit they were wrong so soon.

It's as if they separate the perpetrator's cruelties from the cruelties themselves. Are they embarrassed to admit that they are becoming impoverished and have fallen into a trap? 

Milei is counting on this resignation, on the complicity of the elites and the majority of Congress, and on the leniency of the justice system – even though some judicial decisions have contradicted him – as happened in Brazil for four years with Bolsonaro. 

Wednesday will tell whether he will go ahead or be forced to retreat. Pablo Moyano, one of the leaders of the CGT, said in a message to the government, regarding his prediction of the number of participants in the march to Congress: "It will be uncontrollable."

Anything can happen this Wednesday in Buenos Aires and other major Argentinian cities, including the beginning of the end of a fascist project.