March 19, 2019

Trump Wants to Reward Brazil’s Far-Right President With Special NATO Status

The love-fest just took another strange turn.

Chris Kleponis/ZUMA

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Adding a diplomatic spin to his repeated praise for Brazil’s authoritarian leader Jair Bolsonaro, President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he intended to give Brazil the designation of “major non-NATO ally”—a status that would extend some of the alliance’s economic and military privileges to the South American country.

“We had a great meeting today,” Trump said in a joint press conference alongside Bolsonaro from the Rose Garden. “As I told President Bolsonaro, I also intend to designate Brazil as a major non-NATO ally, or even possibly, if you start thinking about it, maybe a NATO ally.” 

Perhaps recognizing the significant diplomatic hurdles that would likely hinder the latter proposal, Trump added, “Have to talk a lot of people but maybe a NATO ally, which will greatly advance security and cooperation between our countries.”

It was an unusual suggestion by a president who has repeatedly expressed his antipathy towards the nearly 70-year-old alliance, from threatening to withdraw the US, to making an international spectacle out of its annual summit by publicly insulting its members and claiming they’ve failed to carry their weight in defense spending.

Trump’s push to offer NATO privileges to Brazil further extended the love-fest between the two leaders, whose exchanges have focused on mutual admiration. During the Rose Garden press conference, Trump repeatedly praised the Brazilian leader, who has been called the “Brazilian Trump.”

In another nod to building stronger ties with the largest country in South America, Trump on Tuesday also said that he supported Bolsonaro’s efforts to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international organization focused on economic progress.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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