High-placed sources from Brazil told Newsmax Wednesday that the first head of state to pay an official visit to President Donald Trump in 2019 was likely to be Jair Bolsonaro, who will be sworn in as president of Brazil on Jan. 1.
So often is Bolsonaro likened to President Trump in terms of his outspoken opinions and style that the international press has dubbed him “the tropical Trump.”
Strongly pro-life and pro-gun ownership, former Army Capt. Bolsonaro has been critical of laws advancing the homosexual agenda and has been accused of comments that are anti-woman.
He even praised the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil and former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for seizing power from the parliament in 1992 and making himself a strongman.
“Along with the fact that the U.S. is Brazil’s second-largest trading partner after China, that Trump and Bolsonaro are so similar and get along so well make him a natural for an official visit to the U.S. once he takes office,” Thiago de Arago, Brazilian political scientist and political risk specialist, told Newsmax.
He cited to a private visit to Washington D.C. two weeks ago by the president-elect’s son, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro. During that visit, the younger Bolsonaro met with Donald Trump, Jr., White House national security adviser John Bolton, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Bolsonaro, Jr. also had a private meeting with former White House counselor Steve Bannon.
The elder Bolsonaro is reportedly most interested in discussing trade with Trump and seeking ways for the U.S. to become the No. 1 trading partner of Brazil and thus make China its No. 2 trading partner.
In addition, both Bolsonaro and Trump are concerned about their respective countries can deal with Venezuela’s controversial Marxist President Nicolas Maduro.
If the visit materializes early next year, it is almost sure to be a working visit rather than a state visit. Both Trump and Bolsonaro are known to dislike the formality and trappings that a state visit entails.
“When John Bolton came to Brasília, President-elect Bolsonaro not only welcomed him to his home, but prepared and served breakfast to him,” Arago told us. “There is a traditional opulence for world leaders, but there is also a simplicity in which visitors talk with our leaders. And Mr. Bolsonaro prefers that.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
© 2019 Newsmax. All rights reserved.