Remember when Donald Trump asked “A really violent day” to stop shoplifting and petty crime (despite the fact that crime already did declined at a historic rate under the Biden administration)?

Trump’s controversial pick for Attorney General Matt Gaetz could be a stamp on the president-elect’s worst impulses, considering former Rep. it was a supporter of politics violence himself, claiming El Salvador as a model for how governments can bring order to their countries.

On the ReidOut blog, we’ve got you covered the Republican Party’s passion for Salvador president Nayib Bukelethe self-described “world’s toughest dictator” whose so-called crackdown on gangs has been widely criticized by activist groups for suspension of human rights, its targeting of children, her use of torture and her prison of innocent people.

Gaetz was among Bukele’s biggest cheerleaders in Congress. In June, he participated in the authoritarian leader second term inauguration along with a slew of other conservatives, including Donald Trump Jr. Gaetz also launched the Congressional “El Salvador Caucus” earlier this year to – as he said — “to justify the strong reforms that President Bukele has implemented.” Pro-Salvadoran activists in the US accused the caucus of whitewashing Bukele’s abuses, a claim Gaetz denied.

But Gaetz’s statements elsewhere tell a different story. During his visit to a prison in Salvador earlier this year, Gaetz claimed, “There is a lot more discipline in this prison than we see in many prisons in the United States,” according to a CNN report. In a propaganda video that Bukele posted on his X account, Gaetz can be seen saying, “This is the solution” for El Salvador and “We believe that good ideas in El Salvador actually have legs and can go to other places and I can help others. people to be safe and secure, hopeful and prosperous.”

Americans would do well to take this as a warning. If Matt Gaetz eventually takes the helm of the Justice Department as Trump’s attorney general, he will be in a prime position to facilitate one of Trump’s most troubling vows: his threat to use state violence on those they consider enemies.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com