Er'body filled out their non-citizenship question census yet???
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article241026546.html
Been thinking about this Bolsonaro/Brazil meeting at Mar-a-Lago. I think we aren't paying it enough attention. Not because of the virus distraction, but because it was wholly underreported and impromptu. We hadn't even talked about it here that I can recall nor was I aware that it did or even would happen until the talk about the virus. The news was out there at the last minute, but it was not widely reported. It's all very strange because having strong connections and relationships connected to Brazil, I feel that it's very strange that I didn't know or that Brazilians I know didn't even seem to be informed. A presidential visit by Bolsonaro to the US would/should have been a widely publicized thing.
That article has some interested nuggets in it.
“President Bolsonaro has a deep appreciation for the United States and its democratic values, and personally holds you and the First Family in great esteem,” Mário Garnero, an 82-year old Brazilian entrepreneur, wrote in an undated letter addressed to Trump. “It is therefore a most opportune time to respectfully request on behalf of President Bolsonaro an informal visit with you at your ‘Southern White House’ in Mar-A-Lago. ”
THINK BACK CHANNELS. My first immediate thought is that the Forúm of São Paulo may be bigger than many appreciate, but that might just be a personal fixation because of my relative proximity to the subject.
"The White House referred questions about whether the summit was planned outside of normal diplomatic channels to the State Department. A spokesperson for State referred those same questions back to the White House. Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry declined to comment.
Typically, meetings between heads of state involve weeks if not months of planning and diplomatic back-and-forth."
"One pre-dinner conversation between Trump and Bolsonaro was caught on video and posted to social media. Trump is shown describing his decision not to impose tariffs on Brazilian metals as a “great gift” to his foreign counterpart, whom he called a “great friend.”
“I gave him a great gift — I gave him a good gift. We didn’t charge him tariffs on something and that made him much more popular,” Trump told a group that included Bolsonaro, Pence and Ivanka Trump, according to Instagram videos obtained by the Herald. (Speaking to reporters that same evening, Trump said he would make no promises about whether tariffs could be imposed on Brazil in the future.)"
Oh, and you gotta love this nugget at the end…however, they forget to explain that Bolsonaro said the following in response to being accused as a de facto rapist for not supporting a bill that protected underage criminals of the worst crimes from being tried as adults. The gangs in Brazil recruit young and get the under-18s to do the dirty work. Everyone knows this because the left lets them get away with it…likely because they get kickbacks from the criminal leadership.
"Bolsonaro shares anti-immigrant and protectionist tendencies with Trump. A former military officer, Bolsonaro once told a Brazilian congresswoman that “I would never rape you because you do not deserve it.” He has also made controversial statements about the LGBTQ community and indigenous and minority groups, and defended Brazil’s repressive military dictatorship, which ruled the country from 1964 to 1985."
This letter is weird too. Why would Mario Garnero refer to himself in the third-person? And where's the date of the letter? Fake news?
"Mário Garnero also had ties to the regime. Media reports from the 1980s describe him as a “personal friend” of Brazil’s last military leader, President João Baptista Figueiredo, an army general and head of the national intelligence service whose term as president ended in 1985."
And finally,
"Trump and Bolsonaro stopped by the party and addressed the revelers.
“He’s constantly out-negotiating the United States and that’s OK because he is my friend,” Trump said of Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro noted what an honor it was to be at the club as a friend of the U.S. government.
“We are also sweeping the left from Brazil,” Bolsonaro said. “And that’s very good. It’s a country that once again has faith in the future, and above all a country that believes in God.”"