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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Comment
Julia Carrie Wong

Trump’s gilded Oval Office was the perfect setting for his and Bukele’s grotesque spectacle

two men in a room with lots of gold shake hands
Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele’s meeting on Monday. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

The Oval Office meeting of Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele on Monday was a grotesque spectacle. Both men, elected to lead nominally democratic countries, have described themselves as dictators, and they exuded that sense of smug impunity. While reporters sought answers on the fate of Kilmar Ábrego García, a 29-year-old father of three who was wrongly deported to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot mega-prison, Trump and Bukele disclaimed responsibility, joked about further deportations, and engaged in casual slander of Ábrego García, who is not, and has never been alleged to be, a terrorist.

And then there was the gold. So much gold.

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