Brazil: Kudos to Lula da Silva

[allan]

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula), president of Brazil, is the only world leader to stand up to Donald Trump.

Background:

In 2021, a defeated Donald Trump attempted to remain in power by inciting an insurrection in the capital of Washington on January 6, 2021. Trump should have been prosecuted for treason.

In 2023, Jair Bolsonaro also attempted to remain in power after being defeated by Lula in Brazil's democratic elections. On January 8, 2023, Bolsonaro incited his supporters to storm the Presidential Palace, Congress and the Supreme Court, in the capital of Brasilia. Unlike Donald Trump, Bolsonaro, a right-wing former military officer, is soon to stand trial for attempting a coup in Brazil. He faces 43 years in prison if convicted.

Fast forward to July 9, 2025, when Donald Trump threatened a 50% tariff on Brazil. Trump’s threat had nothing to do with trade. In fact, the United States exports more goods and services to Brazil than Brazil exports to the United States. The 50% tariff was exclusively about Trump attempting to coerce Brazil to stop Bolsonaro’s trial and leave his right-wing buddy alone so Bolsonaro could continue his insurrection in Brazil. One wannabe dictator colluding to support another.

Lula did not mince words:

“If Trump was Brazilian and if he did what happened at Capitol Hill, he’d also be on trial in Brazil. And possibly he would have violated the Constitution. According to justice, he would also be arrested if he had done that here in Brazil,”

"No foreigner [gringo] is going to give orders to this president,"

"We expected a response, and what we received was unacceptable blackmail, in the form of threats to Brazilian institutions and false information about trade between Brazil and the United States,"

[Trump] “not elected to be emperor of the world,”

As a result of Trump’s attempt to undermine Brazil’s democracy, Bolsonaro, awaiting trial, was rearrested and fitted with an ankle monitor to prevent him from fleeing prosecution to the United States. Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, also a former Brazilian politician, has already fled to the United States and is working from America to undermine Brazil’s democracy. Trump is expected to grant him American citizenship.

Kudos to Lula for standing up to Trump, while the rest of the world follows Neville Chamberlain to appease him.

BTW, the United States imports almost all its coffee. Poor coffee harvests have already doubled the cost of coffee. Two thirds of the best coffee beans (arabica) we import are from Brazil and Columbia. If Trump imposes a 50% political tariff on Brazil (because of Bolsonaro), you can expect your morning joe to cost even more.