An Illusion of Control: How El Salvador’s President Rhetorically Inflates His Ability to Quell Violence

To create an illusion of improving country conditions with respect to gang violence, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele relies on rhetorical strategies that include asserting his power and aptitude to accomplish what no other leader before him has done, undercutting the credibility of his critics, and selectively revealing and concealing national data. In this paper, I offer a fantasy-theme rhetorical analysis to demonstrate the strategic digital mediation of one key instance of Bukele’s wielding of the power of public diplomacy to detract attention from El Salvador’s continuing legacy of violence and democratic decline. Delivered in the midst of a government-sanctioned state of emergency following a rash of gang violence in early 2022, Bukele’s third annual Address to the Nation speech accomplishes the twin goals of proclaiming imminent victory over El Salvador’s infamous and pervasive gangs and defending himself against the critical global gaze directed at the country.