Trump's 'hyper-tough' image 'eroded' after high-profile arrest: analyst
President Donald Trump's attempt to use Kilmar Ábrego García as the token example of alleged gang members sent to a prison in El Salvador has not worked out well, one writer commented Monday.
Washington Post columnist Philip Bump wrote that in a social media post on Friday, Trump alleged that Ábrego García was an MS-13 gang member, as evidenced by the tattoos on his hand. Holding up a photo, the hand showed a cannabis leaf, a smiley face, a cross, and a skull.
“They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles,” Trump wrote.
"This is categorically not true," wrote Bump. "In the image Trump is shown holding — one that has the aesthetic of legal documentation, though it doesn’t appear in any public documents — a casual observer might conclude that Abrego García had 'M S 1 3' tattooed on his knuckles because that’s what’s shown in the annotation. But that appears to be text meant to suggest an interpretation of the actual tattoos on Ábrego García’s knuckles..."
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The tattoos prompted questions about how a skull represents the number three.
"A common explanation is that, well, maybe it used to be a three, but he changed it into a skull? But Trump didn’t even bother going that far. He just said it means MS-13 and there you go," wrote Bump.
Bump also noted that it isn't even clear where the photo came from, since Ábrego García’s face wasn't in the photo.
He cited a recent interview with a source on gang affiliations who spoke with the pro-Trump New York Post. That individual said that a "13" tattoo would be mandatory for a member of the gang. Ábrego García isn't known to have such a tattoo, said Bump.
Trump claimed that a State Department document alleged Ábrego García was once stopped by police while driving in a car with two other known members of MS-13. He was wearing a gang symbol on a hat, Trump alleged, but it turned out to be a Chicago Bulls hat, explained Bump.
Trump's attitude about being tough on crime and deportations has contributed to a crafted image of a strong leader, wrote Bump. However, if the García case becomes the primary example of those being deported, it undermines that image.
"This error on the part of the government has made it unusually difficult for some of Trump’s traditional allies (including the Supreme Court) to endorse his insistence that Ábrego García remain in a Salvadoran prison," Bump wrote. "After all, the entire point of the flights to El Salvador was to present the image of hyper-tough Trump, crushing criminal immigrants in his iron fist.
"Ábrego García’s removal is perhaps the highest-profile way in which that image has been eroded," Bump continued. "Instead of deporting a dangerous criminal, the administration accidentally sent a longtime Maryland resident and sheet metal worker with an autistic child?"
He closed by noting that, given the publicly known facts, it isn't surprising to see the administration resistant to bringing evidence against the Maryland man into a court of law.