As RedState reported, Nayib Bukele has secured a landslide re-election win in El Salvador. That came despite global accusations of authoritarianism and couched U.S. opposition, so much so that Bukele took to sarcastically calling himself the “world’s coolest dictator.”
He’s not a dictator, though, and to prove it, El Salvador welcomed in international election observers to monitor the process as the incumbent secured around 83 percent of the vote, demolishing his closest rival, a left-winger who only got seven percent.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mostly bit his tongue and put out a congratulatory message, though it was still laced with underhanded jabs at Bukele’s governance.
“The United States values our strong relationship with the people of El Salvador, forged over 160 years and built on shared values, regional ties, and family connections. Events in El Salvador have a direct impact on U.S. interests at home and abroad. Only by working together can we achieve our full potential and overcome the greatest obstacles in our hemisphere and globally,” Blinken said. “Looking ahead, the United States will continue to prioritize good governance, inclusive economic prosperity, fair trial guarantees, and human rights in El Salvador under our Root Causes Strategy.”
Under Bukele’s leadership, El Salvador has gone from one of the most dangerous countries on earth to one of the safest. Using emergency powers granted to him by the nation’s legislative body, over 70,000 people have been arrested, a development that has sent many American liberals into fits of panic. You know what, though? It’s worked.
People can walk their neighborhoods again without fear of being abducted and worse. Even the downtown area where Bukele’s victory speech took place was once ruled by gangs. El Salvador was a failed state, and despite cries of “authoritarian tendencies,” it is no longer one. That’s the reality, whether people like the methods or not.
Here’s the lesson for the left-wingers out there who have decided Bukele is a radical “right-wing dictator” who is a “danger to democracy.” No one cares about your lofty proclamations when they are getting chopped up by gangs and having their daughters sold into sex slavery. I can’t guarantee that Bukele hasn’t crossed some lines in the use of his emergency powers, but what I can guarantee is that what he’s done has been far preferable to the alternative. The world is complicated. Everything isn’t always roses, and sometimes the answer to a problem isn’t what Western academics think it should be.
That brings me to another lesson being taught by El Salvador. If the people do not want to see their country reach a point where 83 percent of the nation happily hands one-man emergency powers to keep the country safe, then perhaps don’t let things get to that point in the first place. You can’t have “bail reform” that lets violent criminals back out onto the streets and a “social justice” movement that results in the increased victimization of normal people and expect there to not eventually be a backlash.
So, liberals have a choice. They can sit on their hands and cry about Bukele’s tactics, or they can ensure they don’t become necessary in America. Right now, we are decidedly not doing the latter.
