Politics - News Analysis
Trump Branded ‘Complete Freak Show’ as His Fake Tan Reaches Record New Levels
Donald Trump’s face appeared particularly brown as he met with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at the White House last week.
The pair of right-wing leaders briefly stood and smiled for pictures, shaking hands briefly before they went into the Oval Office. They were expected to discuss the U.S.’s immigration crackdown as well as the 10% tariffs the country slapped on El Salvador as part of Trump’s sweeping tariffs plan.
“Never go Nuclear Doritoโฆ” one X user wrote. Another likened him to a traffic cone, writing, “Heโs one spray away from qualifying as a traffic cone.”
The meeting came as Trump hopes to make the tiny Central American nation a critical lynchpin for his administration’s mass deportation operation.
Since March alone, El Salvador accepted more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants from the U.S., whom Trump administration officials accused of gang activity and violent crimes.

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They were placed inside the country’s notorious maximum-security gang prison just outside the country’s capital, San Salvador. Inside that prison is also a Maryland man who was wrongfully deported but who the administration has been pushing to keep in El Salvador despite court orders to return him to the U.S.
Bukele, who remains incredibly popular in El Salvador because of his crackdown on the country’s powerful street gans, has become a vital ally for the Trump administration after offering up his prison to house said migrants.
Trump went heavy on the bronzer today pic.twitter.com/FcvAFcYuUe
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 14, 2025
The Trump administration has offered little evidence for its claims that the Venezuelans it deported were, in fact, gang members, nor has it released the names of any of those deported.
Asked whether he has concerns about the prison where the deportees are being held, Trump told reporters early Sunday that Bukele was doing a “fantastic job.”
“Heโs taking care of a lot of problems that we have that we really wouldnโt be able to take care of from a cost standpoint,โ Trump said. “And, heโs doing really, heโs been amazing. We have some very bad people in that prison. People that should have never been allowed into our country.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the country back in February and struck a deal with Bukele to use the maximum-security prison to house the migrants in exchange for about $6 million. The migrants are being housed there for a year.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to turn around a flight carrying immigrants that was already en route to El Salvador, but Bukele took to social media and wrote, “Oopsie … too late.”
Did they discontinue Trumpโs old bronzer? Because heโs looking like a jalapeรฑo Cheeto lately. pic.twitter.com/3WuK5CMjXc
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 29, 2025
Just this month, however, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump to use the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law used to deport immigrants to El Salvador. The U.S.’s highest court overturned rulings by other judges that the use of the act was unconstitutional.
The justices insisted, however, that the immigrants get a court hearing before their removal from the U.S. Over the weekend, 10 additional people the administration claims are members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs arrived in El Salvador, Rubio announced on Sunday.
During a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Rubio told Trump that the U.S. “also found cooperation in other countries that are willing to take some of these people, some very dangerous criminals.” Bukele, meanwhile, “has been a good friend to the United States in that regard,” Rubio added.
Trump said openly and continues to do so that he would favor El Salvador taking American citizens who have committed violent crimes, too. He added, however, “I’d only do according to the law.” However, it’s unclear how lawful U.S. citizens could be deported elsewhere.
Trump put tariffs on his orange make up and missed 25% of his face. pic.twitter.com/sPBFIsjmNO
— James Tate (@JamesTate121) April 17, 2025
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said such citizens would have to be “heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly.”
The Supreme Court even ruled that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident and Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears of gang persecution.
Leavitt said during a Friday press conference that the administration’s job is “to facilitate the return, not to effectuate the return,” but Trump indicated later that day that he would return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. if the high court’s justices said he needed to be brought back.
“I have great respect for the Supreme Court,” Trump told reporters traveling on Air Force One. Government lawyers indicated in a legal filing on Saturday that Abrego Garcia remains in El Salvador but did not detail what, if any, steps the administration is taking to return him to the U.S.

In its required daily status update on Sunday, the government essentially stated that it had nothing to add beyond Saturday’s filing. Stephen Miller, a top White House aide, signaled on Monday that the U.S. president wouldn’t be asking Bukele to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
“It’s up to El Salvador and to the government and the people of El Salvador what the fate of their own citizens is,” he said. “We can’t extradite citizens of foreign countries to our country over the objection of those countries.”
Also, this is an image of Trump from the story. Not photoshop or AI. Heโs fully orange. pic.twitter.com/98adJ30aKQ
— Lisa Kirbie (@lisakirbie) April 16, 2025
Bukele’s visit to the White House also comes amid the 10% tariff Trump slapped on El Salvador, which Bukele was expected to negotiate, especially given his country’s cooperation with the U.S. with regard to the deportations.
Ahead of the visit, the U.S. State Department updated its travel advisory for El Salvador to Level 1, which is for countries considered the safest to visit for U.S. citizens. It notes that gang activity and other murders and violent crimes have declined massively in recent years.
It’s now considered safer to travel to El Salvador than it is to travel to most countries in Europe.
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