Trump's new favorite authoritarian is helping him sidestep court orders

In a public meeting with Salvadoran President Bukele, Donald Trump openly proposed deporting violent U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s ultra-max prison CECOT — suggesting Bukele may need to “build five more.” This marks a dramatic escalation from prior attempts to bypass U.S. courts: no longer limited to migrants or ambiguous legal status, this rhetoric targets American citizens directly. While not yet formalized policy, the proposal reflects an authoritarian worldview where legal protections, citizenship rights, and judicial authority are conditional. It normalizes jurisdictional outsourcing as a tool of domestic control — cloaked in foreign partnerships and PR spectacle.