Crime, abortion and socialism, not immigration, are the issues that rile them
“Mr president!” Javier Milei could barely contain himself when he met Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference (cpac) near Washington in February. The pair embraced and exchanged slogans, with Mr Trump intoning “Make Argentina Great Again” several times and Argentina’s new president yipping “Viva la libertad, carajo” (“Long live freedom, dammit”) in response.
Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s popular autocratic president, had already addressed the conference. “They say globalism comes to die at cpac,” he told enraptured Republicans. “I’m here to tell you that in El Salvador, it’s already dead.” Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s hard-right former president, was a star guest in 2023. He, like Mr Trump, claimed without evidence that his bid for a second term was thwarted by fraud. His supporters also attempted an insurrection.