Trump Drops Bolsonaro

Trump discarded Bolsonaro after seeing him as a 'loser,' says former US ambassador. Actually, Eduardo Bolsonaro had created a false and exaggerated narrative over President Trump!

US President Donald Trump woke up and "discarded" former President Jair Bolsonaro after considering him a "loser," according to former US Ambassador John Feeley, in an interview with BBC News Brazil. Feeley believes that after Bolsonaro was convicted and imprisoned, Trump stopped caring about the Brazilian's situation.

Feeley was the US ambassador to Panama and currently serves as executive director of the Center for Media Integrity of the Americas (CMIA). He left the US government in 2018, during Trump's first term. He believes Trump doesn't know much about the Brazilian political situation or about the former president.

"I can almost guarantee that he doesn't wake up every day thinking about Brazil," he told BBC News Brazil. "And as soon as Bolsonaro ceased to be a reference point in Brazilian politics and the rule of law and democratic justice prevailed in Brazil, Donald Trump simply discarded him." According to the former ambassador's assessment, Bolsonaro's legal setback made him a "loser" in Trump's eyes. "If there's one thing Donald Trump doesn't tolerate, it's losers," he told the portal.

Feeley said he believes that the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, did not play a significant role in influencing Trump's actions in favor of Bolsonaro. For the former ambassador, Rubio doesn't "care" about Brazil. The CMIA director assessed that what convinced Trump was the lobbying done by former federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), the former president's son.

After Bolsonaro was convicted and Trump reversed the imposition of tariffs on Brazil, the American president did not admit the mistake - according to Feeley, an attitude he has had throughout his life.

In his assessment, the suspension of tariffs was not a result of Brazilian negotiations, but rather a reflection of Trump's erratic behavior. The former ambassador opined that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was “lucky” that Trump dropped sanctions on Brazil.

“I would encourage both Lula and virtually any leader to stay out of Trump’s orbit as much as possible and let the limbic system of our economic, cultural and social ties continue to function until the United States returns to a more normal level of acceptable international behavior,” Feeley told BBC News Brazil.

Take care!

Prof. Carl Boniface

Vocabulary builder:

Opine (v) = hold and state as one's opinion. “The man is a genius,” he opined." (syn) preached, lectured, pronounced, speak out, orated

Limbic system (n) is the part of the brain involved in our behavioural and emotional responses, especially when it comes to behaviours we need for survival: feeding, reproduction and caring for our young, and fight or flight responses.