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For Trump, Brazil’s President Is Like Looking in the Mirror For Trump, Brazil’s President Is Like Looking in the Mirror
(about 8 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Trump hosted Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, at the White House on Tuesday, and it was something like looking in the mirror.WASHINGTON — President Trump hosted Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, at the White House on Tuesday, and it was something like looking in the mirror.
Like other authoritarian leaders that Mr. Trump has embraced since taking office, Mr. Bolsonaro is an echo of the American president: a brash nationalist whose populist appeal comes partly from his use of Twitter and his history of making crude statements about women, gay people and indigenous groups. Like other authoritarian leaders Mr. Trump has embraced since taking office, Mr. Bolsonaro is an echo of the American president: a brash nationalist whose populist appeal comes partly from his use of Twitter and his history of making crude statements about women, gay people and indigenous groups.
“They say he’s the Donald Trump of South America,” Mr. Trump marveled during a speech to the Farm Bureau in January, noting that Mr. Bolsonaro had been called the “Trump of the Tropics” since taking office this year. “Do you believe that? And he’s happy with that. If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t like the country so much. But I like him.” “They say he’s the Donald Trump of South America,” Mr. Trump marveled during a speech to the Farm Bureau in January, noting that Mr. Bolsonaro had been called the “Trump of the tropics” since taking office this year. “Do you believe that? And he’s happy with that. If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t like the country so much. But I like him.”
During brief comments in the Oval Office before the formal meeting, Mr. Trump said that he was honored that people have compared his campaign to Mr. Bolsonaro’s. He said that Brazil and the United States have “never been closer.” At a news conference after the two men held a luncheon meeting, Mr. Trump gushed that “I think Brazil’s relationship with the United States, because of our friendship, is probably better than it’s ever been by far.”
“Our trade with Brazil will go substantially up,” Mr. Trump said, “and that’s one of the things Brazil would like to see.” “Our trade with Brazil will go substantially up,” Mr. Trump predicted earlier in the afternoon, “and that’s one of the things Brazil would like to see.”
American officials said this week that Mr. Trump appreciated the way Mr. Bolsonaro powered his way to victory in Brazil’s election by being unabashedly pro-American and declaring repeatedly that he wanted to have a close relationship with the American president. That caught Mr. Trump’s attention, they said. United States officials said this week that Mr. Trump appreciated the way Mr. Bolsonaro powered his way to victory in Brazil’s election by being unabashedly pro-American and declaring repeatedly that he wanted to have a close relationship with Mr. Trump.
In part because of the stylistic similarities between the two leaders, White House officials expressed optimism that Brazil and the United States — two of the largest economies in the Western Hemisphere — will be able to work through disagreements and forge a closer bond on trade and regional issues in South America. In part because of the stylistic similarities between the two leaders, White House officials expressed optimism that Brazil and the United States — two of the largest economies in the Western Hemisphere — would be able to work through disagreements and forge a closer bond on trade and regional issues in South America, including confronting the political crisis in Venezuela.
But the warmth displayed between the two leaders at the White House meeting also underscores how Mr. Trump has upended the usual foreign policy traditions established for decades by his predecessors. But the warmth displayed between the two leaders at the White House also underscores how Mr. Trump has upended the usual foreign policy traditions established over decades by his predecessors.
Since taking office, Mr. Trump has repeatedly confronted and challenged the United States’ closest democratic allies, including the leaders of Canada, Germany and France, while speaking with glowing admiration of America’s adversaries. Since taking office, Mr. Trump has repeatedly confronted and challenged the United States’ closest democratic allies, including the leaders of Canada, Germany and France, while speaking with glowing admiration about some of the globe’s most brutal dictators: Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines.
At the top of Mr. Trump’s friendly authoritarians have been some of the globe’s most brutal dictators: Kim Jong-un of North Korea; Vladimir V. Putin of Russia; Xi Jinping of China; Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt; Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey; and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. Mr. Bolsonaro has long been an apologist for the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for more than two decades, but he was elected by an ample margin and Brazil is now very much a democracy.
Mr. Bolsonaro is the latest to be added to the list. A former army captain who served for decades in the Brazilian congress, Mr. Bolsonaro vaulted onto the international scene by winning his country’s elections last year. He made his first international appearance as president when he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January.
A former army captain who served for decades in the Brazilian congress, Mr. Bolsonaro vaulted onto the international scene by winning his country’s elections last year. He made his first international appearance as president when he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month. At the White House on Tuesday, Mr. Bolsonaro pledged that the United States and Brazil would “stand side by side in their efforts to ensure liberties and respect to traditional family lifestyles, respect to God our creator against the gender ideology or the politically correct attitudes, and against fake news.”
In an interview on Fox News Channel on Monday night, Mr. Bolsonaro lashed out at the media — much the way Mr. Trump often does — for what he said were inaccurate representations of his past statements about race and women, including having said at one point that “I’m homophobic and proud of it.” A few minutes later, Mr. Trump said he was “very proud to hear the president use the term ‘fake news.’”
“If it were all that, I would not at all have been elected president,” Mr. Bolsonaro told Fox’s Shannon Bream. “So, there’s a great deal of fake news certainly around — the Brazilian population has after all learned how to use social media. And they no longer trust or believe the Brazilian mainstream media, which is virtually dominated by the left-wing.” In an interview on Fox News on Monday night, Mr. Bolsonaro lashed out at the news media — much the way Mr. Trump often does — for what he said were inaccurate representations of his past statements about race and women, including having said at one point that “yes, I am homophobic — and very proud of it.”
Mr. Bolsonaro insisted that “I have nothing against homosexuals or women — I’m not a xenophobe.” But he added that “I want to have my house in order. The definition of a family, in my view is one and the same. As defined in the Bible, if you engage in, say, a same-sex relationship, you can go ahead and do it, but we cannot allow the government to bring these intents to the classroom setting and teach schoolchildren in the likes of age 5.” “If it were all that, I would not at all have been elected president,” Mr. Bolsonaro told Shannon Bream of Fox. “So there’s a great deal of fake news certainly around — the Brazilian population has after all learned how to use social media. And they no longer trust or believe the Brazilian mainstream media, which is virtually dominated by the left wing.”
American officials said that they expected Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolsonaro to discuss the future of Venezuela during discussions at the White House. A senior administration official, who declined to be identified, told reporters that the United States appreciates Brazil’s provision of humanitarian aid to Venezuela and its support for Interim President Juan Guaidó. Mr. Bolsonaro insisted that “I have nothing against homosexuals or women — I’m not a xenophobe.”
In the Fox News interview, Mr. Bolsonaro said that “Venezuela is very much on our order of business.” He added that he looked forward to a diplomatic solution to the crisis so that “Venezuela can go back to peace, democracy and liberty.” With Mr. Bolsonaro by his side at the White House, Mr. Trump lashed out at social media companies like Twitter and Facebook, accusing them of being “collusive” with his critics and discriminating against conservatives and Republicans. Reacting to a lawsuit filed against social media companies by Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican and one of his supporters, Mr. Trump hinted that he was prepared to take action against what he called “unfair” practices by the companies.
During the brief Oval Office appearance, Mr. Trump said that he knew “exactly” what he wanted to happen in Venezuela, but he declined to say what that was. He said that all options were on the table, including the use of the military, but he added that he had not talked with Mr. Bolsonaro about whether Brazil’s military would participate in any conflict with Venezuela. “Well, we have to do something, I tell you,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump called the situation in Venezuela “a shame.” “If they’re in a certain group, there’s discrimination and big discrimination,” he said. “I see it absolutely on Twitter and Facebook.” Mr. Trump also criticized television networks. “The incredible thing is that we can win an election and we have such a stacked deck, and that includes networks.”
Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolsonaro said they discussed the future of Venezuela, and Mr. Trump praised his counterpart for Brazil’s humanitarian aid to Venezuela and support for Juan Guaidó, the self-declared interim president.
Responding to a question about why sanctions by the United States have so far failed to force Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuela’s socialist leader, to surrender his grip on the presidency, Mr. Trump said that the United States had still not imposed the toughest sanctions possible.
“We really haven’t done the really tough sanctions yet,” Mr. Trump said. “We can do the tough sanctions, and all options are open. We can go a lot tougher if we need to do that.”
Earlier in the day, the Treasury Department imposed a new round of sanctions against Minerven, Venezuela’s state-owned gold-mining company and its president, Adrian Antonio Perdomo Mata, as part of its effort to increase pressure to the Maduro government. It accused Minerven of propping up Mr. Maduro through “illicit gold operations,” including paying independent miners for gold with “nearly worthless bolívars” to sustain the military.
“The illegitimate Maduro regime is pillaging the wealth of Venezuela while imperiling indigenous people by encroaching on protected areas and causing deforestation and habitat loss,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
Appearing with Mr. Bolsonaro in the Oval Office before their meeting, Mr. Trump said that he knew “exactly” what he wanted to happen in Venezuela, but he declined to say what that was. He said that all options were on the table, including the use of the military.
Asked about the possibility of joining the United States in a potential military action against Venezuela, Mr. Bolsonaro declined to answer, saying that “these reserved issues, which may be discussed, if they have not yet, will not become public.”
Mr. Bolsonaro’s visit to Washington received mixed reviews at home, where many Brazilians were outraged to hear him praise the Trump administration’s plan to build a wall along the Mexican border and say a majority of immigrants who head to the United States do not have “good intentions.”
The satire website Sensacionalista mocked Mr. Bolsonaro for concessions announced during the trip: waiving the visa requirement for United States citizens visiting Brazil and agreeing to allow companies from the United States to launch commercial satellites from a base near the Equator.
“In exchange for the use of our base and the visa exemption for Americans, the president will come home with a Trump baseball cap,” the article said.
“It’s actually an incredible location when you study it, and when you see it,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday, referring to the agreement Mr. Bolsonaro had announced allowing United States companies to launch satellites from a base in Alcantara, along the north coast of Brazil. “We won’t go into it now, but because of the location, tremendous amounts of money would be saved. To put it very simply, the flights are a lot shorter.”
Brazil experts in the United States said the visit had gone well and would most likely establish a foundation for closer cooperation between the two largest economies in the Americas.
“We can point to the removal of visa restrictions by Brazil on U.S. citizens as a signal that Brazil is working to reduce barriers to engagement,” said Roberta Braga, an associate director at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.