Things were busy—and then I was traveling over the long weekend—so I completely forgot to post a link to my April 16 column at MSNBC’s website about Nayib Bukele’s high-approval-rating authoritarianism in El Salvador.

Imagine where U.S. democracy would be if President Donald Trump had an 80% approval rating, control of more than three-quarters of Congress, and the ability to blow past term limits with the Supreme Court’s blessing. Imagine if the 78-year-old Trump were 35 years younger; that is, not headed toward retirement, but poised to stick around for decades.

That’s El Salvador today. A country the size of New Jersey, with Indiana’s population and an economy smaller than that of any U.S. state, is now under the total political control of President Nayib Bukele.

Read the rest here.