Latin American Leaders Are Showing Trump the Way

President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks are out of the ordinary from past Republican administrations, or even his first presidency. Some are more traditional, like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for secretary of state, while others are anti-establishment figures, like former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

Trump’s out-of-the-box picks may have been inspired by two extremely popular leaders south of the border: Argentine President Javier Milei and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

Donald Trump Jr. is a fan of Bukele’s, having attended his inauguration over the summer, and President-elect Trump recently hosted Milei at Mar-a-Lago, where he received the VIP treatment.

In Argentina, Milei has seen success in turning around the country’s disastrous economic situation, turning to more libertarian solutions to boost their economy. Bukele took drastic actions to crack down on the MS-13 gang members who had terrorized El Salvador for years, throwing thousands of them in prison and achieving upward of 90 percent approval for making the country safer.

Bukele’s and Milei’s success are influencing the Trump transition in different ways. Milei is committed to libertarian economics and campaigned on eliminating entire ministries, while Bukele, by contrast, is a former self-described “radical leftist” who campaigned on law and order. Bukele has used expansive government powers to arrest convicts and put them on trial in groups, mass-sentencing hundreds at one time.

Perhaps influenced by Bukele’s success, Trump has advocated using the military to enforce mass deportations of illegal migrants. And Milei’s denouncements of global organizations like the United Nations won him plaudits on the right; Vivek Ramaswamy has said the US should make “Milei-style cuts, on steroids.”

Bukele’s more aggressive use of government power and his conversion from leftism to right-populism is also showing up in the Trump transition. Trump has welcomed former Democrats, like tapping Gabbard for DNI and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services.