Trump Says Bolsonaro Can Remain in US 'as Long as He Wants'
The Facts
- U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday that Brazil's opposition leader Flávio Bolsonaro can stay in the U.S. "as long as he wants." Bolsonaro arrived in Miami last week after leaving Brazil following his defeat in the presidential runoff election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
- This comes as Bolsonaro's immigration status remains unclear to the public. Reports indicate that he was granted one-year humanitarian parole and is expected to seek permanent resident status, and I-94 travel records show he entered the U.S. using his canceled diplomatic passport.
- Trump added that he has no plans to meet with Bolsonaro, despite both being in Florida. Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported Friday that Bolsonaro planned to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Republicans, but an audience with Trump was off the cards for now.
Sources Split
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The Spin
Democratic narrative
The Trump administration has rolled out the red carpet for a man under investigation for money laundering who slipped out of his country before police could seize his passport. To make matters worse, Brazil is probing whether Vance's Rockbridge Network propped up Bolsonaro's campaign. Rubio owes answers to the American people.
Republican narrative
Democrats preach due process at home, then cheer an infamous foreign judge's travel ban against a politician who has been convicted of nothing and demand his deportation. This selective indignation over one Brazilian conservative, after a decade of waving through unvetted arrivals, rings hollow. Giving refuge to a target of a politicized court costs nothing and says plenty about who still takes freedom seriously.
Narrative C
Setting U.S. politics aside, Brazil's own rule-of-law problem deserves scrutiny. Bolsonaro may be guilty or innocent, but fleeing settles nothing. Justice Moraes has long acted as investigator, prosecutor and judge, and the probe into Vance's Rockbridge Network follows a complaint from the ruling party. While Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was saved by due process once, the same doesn't apply when the surname is Bolsonaro.
Narrative D
The Bolsonaros face legal trouble because they reject democracy. Four years ago, the elder Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup; now his eldest son has fled the country and claimed electoral fraud that collapses under the weight of the evidence. If even the family's so-called moderate one is a putschist, the democratic right in Brazil should move on.
