Milei and his cloned dogs – his ‘most trusted advisers’published at 21:28 BST
21:28 BST
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
When eccentric Argentine president Javier Milei stunned the country with a surprisingly strong first-place finish in Argentina’s presidential primaries in 2023, he singled out five supporters for thanks: Conan, Murray, Milton, Robert and Lucas.
“Who else?” he said. “My four-legged children.”
For many of Milei’s observers, his dogs – large English Mastiffs named after his favourite economists – have become the focus of intense interest. His supporters have handed out their pictures at rallies, and Milei reportedly seeks political and economic counsel from the dogs.
He has even referred to the canines as “the best strategists in the world”.
His political opponents have often seized on the dogs to attack Milei, with one-time election rival Sergio Massa once saying that Argentines are worried about the country’s future, “unlike those who speak to their dogs like they were their kids”.
Part of the public’s fascination with the dogs is due to the fact that the five were all cloned from a previous dog, also named Conan.
Citing a number of sources, Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper has reported that Milei believes he first met Conan in a previous life, in which he was a gladiator in Rome and Conan was a lion, with the pair declining to fight so that they could join forces later on.
Milei, however, has been relatively quiet publicly about whatever advice he may or may not get from his dogs.
“What I do inside my house is my problem,” he told Spanish newspaper El Pais in 2024.
Milei posted what seemed to be an AI-generated illustration of him and his dogs on Instagram in 2023.
The topic of furry friends did not come up today during the public portion of the meeting between Trump and Milei.
The US president is one of only three American leaders – alongside 19th-century presidents James Polk and Andrew Jackson – to not own a pet while living at the White House. In his first term, Trump was the first president in more than 100 years to not have a dog as an Oval Office companion.
Image source, InstagramImage caption,
Argentine President Javier Milei posted what seemed to be an AI-generated illustration of him and his dogs on Instagram in 2023.