Aspiring fascists rely heavily on convincing citizen voters that surrendering civil liberties equates to greater safety and security. This dates back to the fall of the Roman Republic. Very few Americans really understand their constitutional rights, but they do understand the threat of violent crime. These are people who are very susceptible to being convinced that their safety is of greater importance than their freedoms. This argument is at the epicenter of Donald Trump’s grip on power.

The core of Donald Trump’s public support relies on brutally simple, time tested logic, “we are under attack … something must be done … I will do it.” It was the same logic Hitler, Mussolini and Franco used in the run-up to World War II and it is the same logic used by autocrats like Putin, Orbán and Le Pen today. It is also the logic of emerging Trump ally and President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele. Bukele it should be noted likes to refer to himself as, “The coolest dictator in the world.”

One very effective mainstay of Hitler’s political strategy was the use of propaganda films. Indeed Hitler actually had a favorite filmmaker whose work he lauded, cited and featured. Leni Riefenstahl came to be known as Hitler’s director. Films like, Triumph of the Will and Olympische Spiele (1938; Olympia) on the Olympic Games of 1936 became powerful political tools for the Third Reich. Images can be politically potent, it was true in the 1930s, during the 15th century Renaissance period and it is true today. Images move hearts and minds and aid in achiving political objectives.

The images of undocumented immigrants in the United States being intimidated, abused and tortured are not making their way into media space by accident or as a result journalist discovery. They are being released and featured by the Trump and Bukele governments with a purpose, to underscore the notion that the protectors are doing what they were elected to do, protect.

Trump and Bukele calculate that their supporters will rally around the images of defenseless detained deportees being frog marched in bent over positions. Images of ice agents smashing windows with truncheons and axes are intended to intimidate targets of deportation raids and political opponents alike.

These images are produced and released to the media deliberately and expressly for that purpose. The image at the top of this page was released to the media by Bukele’s Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia (Press Secretary of the Presidency). He wants you to see these images, he is proud of them, he believes they are good for his political standing.

Using axes and truncheons are not the only way to get people to open their car doors but the images of ICE agents using them for that purpose reenforces the narrative for Trump’s supporters that his government is tough on those they define as “illegals.”

Immediately after the televised Oval Office meeting between Trump and Bukele MSNBC’s Vaughn Hillyard reported on a conversation in the hallway outside the oval office between Trump, Bukele and a Spanish language journalist. The central point was that Trump reportedly encouraged Bukele to continue producing and releasing the videos of detainees being abused saying of his supporters, “they eat that up.”

Yes men like Trump and Bukele see advantage in these images but the world sees abuse, degradation and violations of law. They are powerful evidence of crimes being committed. Bukele is confident that he is legally untouchable in El Salvador. That untouchability is something Trump clearly covets. But America is not El Salvador.