Months before his election as president of Brazil on Sunday, conservative Jair Bolsonaro was characterized by the international press as the “Tropical Trump”— his outspoken comments about women and minorities and vow to be a strong-armed leader invoking analogies to the American President.
On Sunday, President Trump called to congratulate his Brazilian counterpart following Bolsonaro’s resounding win in the presidential runoff with roughly 56 percent of the vote.
“He did [call Bolsonaro],” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told Newsmax on Monday, “And he spoke with him last night.”
(Although the White House suspended the practice of sending readouts of presidential calls with other world leaders, Sanders said that she sent a note on the Bolsonaro call to the “pool” reporters who follow the President regularly).
At the same briefing, a Brazilian reporter Raquel Krahenbuhl reminded Sanders that Bolsonaro “has made very controversial comments about minorities [and] defended the military [dictatorship] in Brazil [from 1964-85].”
She then asked “if the White House plans to address this and ask assurances from the government -- the incoming government in Brazil -- that they will protect human rights and democracy in Brazil.”
“First, we promote human rights all over the world,” replied Sanders, “We value our longstanding relationship with Brazil, and we want to continue to be able to work with them, and we'll see what happens from there.”
Asked by Krahenbuhl what she thought of the comparisons between Trump and Bolsonaro, Sanders shot back: “There’s only one Donald Trump, in my opinion.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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