Trump-endorsed candidate praised a dictator, says he was unaware of authoritarian tactics

After praising El Salvador’s popular but authoritarian president on the campaign trail, congressional candidate Abe Hamadeh said in an interview he wasn't aware of the foreign leader’s controversial steps to jail thousands of citizens without due process or get rid of checks on his own power.

President Nayib Bukele is credited with a stunning drop in crime in El Salvador, a country that has long grappled with gang violence. To accomplish that, Bukele has overseen emergency measures that suspended individuals’ usual rights, such as allowing the government to conduct trials for hundreds of people at once rather than one at a time. Roughly 1% of the country’s population is estimated to have been jailed.

Bukele and his allies in the legislature have also taken aim at the separation of powers in El Salvador’s government, such as replacing top judges on the basis that they stood in the way of the party’s policy agenda, and implementing an electoral reform that critics said gave an advantage to his own party.

So far that program has earned him overwhelming support from the Salvadoran public: Bukele was reelected with more than 80% of the vote in February.

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Appearing at a recent rally for the Senate candidate Kari Lake, Hamadeh praised Bukele, along with Argentina’s recently elected President Javier Milei, the fiery self-described “anarcho-capitalist.” He connected them to the rise of former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Hamadeh in his ongoing race to replace the retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz.

“People are waking up, not just here in America,” Hamadeh said. “In Argentina, man, they got a pretty good president down there, don't they? In El Salvador, he's cleaning up the streets pretty well.”

“They’re waking up to a system that has pillaged the people in order to enrich themselves. … Bukele and Milei, they came into power when their countries were, quite frankly, in a terrible spot, economically, socially,” he elaborated in an interview, referencing the violence in El Salvador and record-high inflation in Argentina that propelled the two leaders into office.

“People were sick and tired of the establishment old guard, what they’ve done to their countries.”

Hamadeh, a Republican, is running to represent Arizona's 8th Congressional District, which includes much of the West Valley. He previously ran for Arizona attorney general in 2022.

His enthusiasm for Milei centers around that leader’s commitment to shrinking government spending and lifting market regulations. Hamadeh shares both goals.

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This week, Hamadeh boosted a video that Bukele posted on social media depicting his government sending thousands of troops to the country’s northern region after there were two murders there. The video depicted soldiers flooding the streets, and the two alleged killers kneeling in front of armed troops.

“Philosopher King,” Hamadeh captioned the video, a reference to Bukele’s self-nickname.

Hamadeh said he has no knowledge of the measures the leader has taken to suspend individuals’ civil liberties or consolidate power in his own office.

"I’m not aware of his methods. All I know are the results of his actions," Hamadeh said of Bukele. "El Salvador used to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world, to now one of the most safest in the western hemisphere. That’s a good thing."

"I’m not going to wade into the methods that another country employs in order to make sure that their people are safe,” he continued.

Speaking generally, Hamadeh said it is wrong for a leader to get rid of checks on their own power, even if they have been elected with a majority vote.

“The rule of law is what we are all bound to,” he said. “Of course, you can have the whim of the people wanting a dictator, but regardless, you are bound to the constitution and to the rule of law.”

Bukele has in the past called himself the “world’s coolest dictator.” In 2020, Bukele summoned hundreds of supporters to the legislature and deployed armed troops in and around the building when lawmakers were hesitant to approve a loan he requested.

Hamadeh pointed to Bukele’s overwhelming margin of victory as a sign that he is not a dictator and speculated that his party’s efforts to get rid of judges may have been part of a legitimate effort to root out corruption. Bukele’s allies said at the time they removed the judges because they had declared some of his pandemic-focused policies unconstitutional.

To Hamadeh, a clearer example of legal weaponization can be found in the ongoing prosecution against Trump, who has recently been found guilty of civil fraud and defamation, and is being challenged over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost.

Hamadeh cited the fact that investigators raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in an investigation over his possession of classified documents, but did not do the same when President Joe Biden was found to be in possession of similar documents from his time as vice president. He dismissed as “propaganda” the idea that, unlike Biden, Trump resisted investigators’ demands for months.

“There’s nothing more paramount, in our country, than the rule of law,” he said. “That is always going to be first and foremost.”

Laura Gersony covers national politics for the Arizona Republic. Contact her at lgersony@gannett.com or 480-372-0389.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Abe Hamadeh says he’s unaware of Nayib Bukele's authoritarian tactics