THE GUARDIAN: Activists from Hungary, El Salvador and Turkey offer advice to the US about what they’ve learned about authoritarians
Donald Trump makes no secret of his admiration for strongmen like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán or El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele. Last month, he praised Orbán’s hardline stance on immigration and urged European leaders to show more “respect” for the president; earlier this year his administration struck a deal with Bukele to send more than 200 detained migrants to a notorious, maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Many international organizations, experts and historians have sounded the alarm about the United States heading in a similar direction as these authoritarian regimes.
One year after Trump’s re-election, the Guardian asked activists and opposition leaders from Hungary, El Salvador and Turkey what their experiences have taught them about authoritarianism – and what they wish they’d understood sooner.
Americans “should look to other countries, especially in the global south for solutions and for what not to do,” said Ece Temelkuran, a Turkish writer and author of How to Lose a Country. “Drop the arrogance, drop the exceptionalism.” » | Danielle Renwick | Tuesday, December 9, 2025
