Wire report
How to build a police state | William Wheeler
To understand where Trump is trying to take the US, we should look to the authoritarian playbook of his favorite ally: El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele One afternoon last year, Donald Trump welcomed “a friend” to the White House – El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, the world’s most popular authoritarian. “I knew him as a very young man,” the US president said before the cameras. “He’s done a fantastic job. Mr President, it’s an honor to have you.” Since March 2022, when gangs in El Salvador murdered 87 people over a weekend, Bukele has maintained a state of emergency in which key civil liberties are suspended and 2% of the adult population has been jailed – about 100,000 people, at least half of whom are probably not gang members, say local rights groups. The narrative of “the Bukele miracle” – that he swiftly dismantled fearsome gangs and restored order – has made him an icon across Latin America, w
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To understand where Trump is trying to take the US, we should look to the authoritarian playbook of his favorite ally: El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele One afternoon last year, Donald Trump welcomed “a friend” to the White House – El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, the world’s most popular authoritarian. “I knew him as a very young man,” the US president said before the cameras. “He’s done a fantastic job. Mr President, it’s an honor to have you.” Since March 2022, when gangs in El Salvador murdered 87 people over a weekend, Bukele has maintained a state of emergency in which key civil liberties are suspended and 2% of the adult population has been jailed – about 100,000 people, at least half of whom are probably not gang members, say local rights groups. The narrative of “the Bukele miracle” – that he swiftly dismantled fearsome gangs and restored order – has made him an icon across Latin America, w
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According to The Guardian’s source item, How to build a police state | William Wheeler, To understand where Trump is trying to take the US, we should look to the authoritarian playbook of his favorite ally: El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele One afternoon last year, Donald Trump welcomed “a friend” to the White House – El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, the world’s most popular authoritarian. “I knew him as a very young man,” the US president said before the cameras. “He’s done a fantastic job. Mr President, it’s an honor to have you.” Since March 2022, when gangs in El Salvador murdered 87 people over a weekend, Bukele has maintained a state of emergency in which key civil liberties are suspended and 2% of the adult population has been jailed – about 100,000 people, at least half of whom are probably not gang members, say local rights groups. The narrative of “the Bukele miracle” – that he swiftly dismantled fearsome gangs and restored order – has made him an icon across Latin America, w
Context
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Primary source: How to build a police state | William Wheeler via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
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- How to build a police state | William WheelerThe Guardian - 2026-10-25T13:00:03+00:00
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