All the world is a stage, including social media (maybe especially there):
There was the pool furniture in the background. There were the tropical drinks, which looked to be margaritas garnished with cherries. And then there were the deported prisoner and the American senator, sitting and chatting.
That senator, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, accused El Salvador’s government on Friday of aiming to paint the picture of a leisurely respite for the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia by staging their meeting with drinks appearing to be alcohol, and angling to set the meeting by a hotel pool.
Van Hollen referred to the stagecraft with a term that had ricocheted around social media for much of the day: “Margaritagate.”
“Nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or whatever it is,” the Democratic senator said, calling the whole situation “a lesson” in “the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on.”
Dictators dare you to ignore the context and accept their frames. Are their images improbable or too good/convenient to be true?
Well:
