He is one of the very big losers of the last US presidential election. With the defeat of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro suddenly lost a role model, a mentor and his only real ally of weight on the international scene. A sign of the gloomy atmosphere that reigns within power in Brasilia, Bolsonaro is one of the few leaders on the planet who has still not congratulated Joe Biden on his victory.
For weeks, the Brazilian president has been showing his overt support for the Republican candidate in the campaign. “I hope, God willing, to be present during the inauguration of the president [Trump], soon re-elected in the United States. I don’t need to hide it: it all comes from the heart ”, Mr Bolsonaro had thus launched bluntly on October 20, certain of the victory of his “godfather” from the North.
But, as the victory of the Democratic camp loomed, the power of Brasilia saw its hopes dashed. “Hope is the last to die”, declared Mr. Bolsonaro, already ringing, on November 4. Two days later, he finally blurted out in a disastrous tone: “I am not the most important person in Brazil, just like Trump is not the most important person in the world (…). The most important person is God. “ And wall in silence.
“Trump of the tropics”
Jair Bolsonaro is “Widower”, notes the Brazilian press. For two years, the “Trump of the tropics” has supported, imitated (and sometimes even exceeded in vulgarity and excess) his American “mentor”, elevated to the rank of icon. Jair Bolsonaro, who likes to pose in the company of the star-spangled banner, or religiously listening to the outgoing president’s speeches on television, has himself visited the United States four times in just two years. He once cherished the dream of appointing his own son, Eduardo, as ambassador to Washington (before being forced to give it up).
Beyond style and symbols, the master of Brasilia has systematically aligned himself with Donald Trump’s views on diplomacy and politics, supporting his policies in Cuba and the Middle East, following him in his denial of the severity of the Covid-19 epidemic and in the fierce defense of chloroquine as a remedy … And too bad if Brasilia will have obtained little or nothing in exchange for its allegiance, in particular on the commercial level. Trump will have largely been for Bolsonaro a ” imaginary friend “, in the words of columnist Leonardo Sakamoto.
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