President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro appeared for a press conference in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, where the two men—one a bona fide pseudo-fascist, and the other a bona fide pseudo-fascist—spent the bulk of their time talking about how much they love each other.
Trump began the event by explaining that he and Bolsonaro share “many views that are similar” although he did not go into detail about what those views might be (misogyny and homophobia? Love of military dictatorships? Hatred of the poor?)
Trump also boasted that he was “very proud” to hear Bolsonaro use the term “fake news.”
Bolsonaro, for his part, repaid the sycophantic favor by insisting that Trump would absolutely win the 2020 election—a suggestion that Trump eagerly lapped up. Bolsonaro also mentioned everything from Ronald Reagan to political correctness to “gender ideology” to God, as if auditioning for his own far-right slot within the Republican Party.
Trump also said that he was considering recommending Brazil join NATO, which would presumably mean dropping the “N” from its name.
And of course, Trump used his time standing next to a fellow ghoulish strongman to take a shot at his favorite bugbear of late: The spooooky specter of socialism, insisting that its “twilight hour” was at hand.
Then, just as it seemed as if the president was ready to release some of the pent-up anger he’d been sporadically leaking on Twitter of late, Trump called the press conference short, and walked back into the White House alongside Bolsonaro—probably to try on his new soccer jersey, and continue talking about how great he is.