Bolsonaro: “Trump is not the most important in the world, the most important person is God”

“God willing, Donald Trump wins. And these media which are always against will have to come to reality. “With this religious invocation, Jair Bolsonaro spoke last Wednesday, hours after the elections in the United States. With full confidence in his “idol”, the head of the Planalto Palace underlined his preferences and his hostilities: “On two occasions, the Democratic candidate (Joe Biden) spoke of the Amazon. Do you want this intervention from the outside to the inside? “He was referring to the statements of the American president, when he specified that he was ready to create a financial fund for the preservation of this tropical forest.

The Brazilian president took care to remove any doubt: “You know my position. I have a good political relationship with Trump and I hope he gets re-elected. “. Everything indicates that the gods, this time, are not ready to accompany the Brazilian president in his wishes that nothing changes in Washington, or in the world. Since Thursday, however, Bolsonaro was called to silence. It is advice that his closest ministers, including Generals Walter Braga and Luiz Eduardo Ramos, whispered in his ear. Did the course of the litigation for the White House impose, this Thursday 5, presidential abstinence: “From now on we must preserve neutrality?. And that means that there will be no official expressions on the two candidates, ”they declared in the Bolonarist environment.

President Bolsonaro debated between his “loyalty” to Trump and the “pragmatism” imposed by the new North American reality

The reason is obvious: “Brazil will have to continue the dialogue with the world’s greatest power, whoever is victorious ”. However, nothing prevented the president from making statements again, although this time they were much more lukewarm: “I’m not the most important person in Brazil, just like Trump is not the most important person in the world, as he said himself. The most important person is God ”.

The fence mounted around the Planalto (the government house in Brasilia) was not sufficient to contain the deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro. This is the son who accompanied the president on his visit to Washingon on March 19, 2019. His father even proposed it, although to no avail, as an ambassador to the Trump administration. In social networks, Eduardo returned to the charge, suggest voting irregularities that would benefit Biden. The lawmaker posted on his Twitter a blogger’s tweet suggesting the existence of fraud, similar to the complaint filed by the President of the United States in his presentation to the press. “There is no democratic election process when the mechanisms for calculating the data are in the hands of the activists,” said one of the letters. The other warned: “The left is well organized in the world. That is why it is important to monitor the elections. What happens there can be repeated here ”.

On Thursday evening, the military and diplomatic branch of government was alarmed by the consequences of these messages. Any reference to the “Trumpist” complaints about the Democratic candidate’s alleged “theft” of votes could pose difficulties at the start of his relationship with the Brazilian government: “It can be considered a crime,” diplomatic sources said. Faced with this dilemma, President Bolsonaro debated between his “loyalty” to Trump and the “pragmatism” imposed by the new North American reality.

In Brasilia, they cannot forget an unflattering episode with the Democratic representatives. Last June, members of Congress of this affiliation, members of the Budget and Tax Committee of Deputies, expressed their rejection of the trade agreements with Brazil. In July, the chairman of the Lower House’s External Relations Committee, Eliot Engel, was indignant: “The Bolsonaro family must be excluded from the American elections. It’s embarrassing and unacceptable“.

At the end of this month, the US lawmaker interviewed US Ambassador to Brazil Todd Chapman. The diplomat, who at the time was seeking benefits for his country’s ethanol exports, said during a lunch with the Brazilian president “The importance of the Bolsonaro government’s help in keeping Donald Trump as president.”

Brazil’s political, diplomatic, and economic establishment fear effects of Bolsonaro clan attitudes on future US government, if, as everything indicates, Biden’s victory is confirmed. It is obvious that the South American giant cannot be ignored by Washington’s geopolitics: “There are many interests at stake; but total subordination will no longer be possible ”they warn. But Democratic proposals for the environment, particularly on the Amazon, anticipate shocks. As suggested by one of Biden’s advisers for Latin America, Juan Sebastián González: “Anyone in Brazil, or elsewhere, thinks they can promote an ambitious relationship with the United States, while ignoring important issues such as climate change. , democracy and human rights, you didn’t hear what Biden said in his campaign ”.

The Brazilian establishment fears the effects of the attitudes of the Bolsonaro clan on the future government of the United States, if Biden’s victory is confirmed

For former Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, Brazil runs another risk: “Instead of turning to an aggressive ally, it is possible that Biden knocked on Argentina’s door“. Former finance minister and top diplomat Rubens Ricupero ruled that “Without Trump, Brazil will be an orphan. It will not be easy to establish a good relationship with a Democratic President, critical of our environmental, indigenous and human rights policies. Arminio Fraga, former president of the Central Bank of the second Cardoso government, endorsed the diagnosis: “The situation is increasingly hampering access to markets for our agricultural products”. For him, this also brings into play the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. Hussein Kalout, a political scientist and researcher at Harvard University, said Biden’s differences with Bolsonaro touch on many other issues: the legalization of abortion, the use of marijuana, and same-sex marriage are among them. “It is the opposite of the Bolonarist ideology”.

* Author from Brazil 7 days.