By Their Fruits: Donald Trump

Donald Trump is the center of gravity of the new global right. Many of those who support him in Brazil and Portugal do so in the name of faith, and there are pastors who present him as a messenger of God. It is worth looking at the fruits — including those that fell directly on Brazil.

An election lost that he would not accept

In 2020, Trump lost the election and claimed, without evidence, that there had been fraud. More than sixty court cases, several decided by judges he himself had appointed, did not rule in his favor. On January 6, 2021, after a speech of his in Washington, his supporters stormed the Capitol to prevent the certification of the result. Police officers were assaulted; the country watched live.

On the first day of his second term, January 20, 2025, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of about 1,500 people convicted for that attack — including some who had assaulted police officers. The message to his followers was clear: attacking democracy in his name has no consequences.

Notice the resemblance to Brazil. Two years after the Capitol, on January 8, 2023, Bolsonaro's supporters did the same in Brasília. It is no coincidence: it is the same script.

The children at the border

In 2018, the «zero tolerance» policy began criminally prosecuting every adult who crossed the border without authorization. Because the children could not go to prison with their parents, they were separated from them. There were thousands. The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security himself concluded that the government could not even say for certain how many families it had separated — and there were parents deported without their children.

In the second term, immigration enforcement moved to mass detention operations. It is the same government that, in October 2026, opened the door to a foreign politician friendly to the president — more on that shortly.

Other people's territories

In January 2025, before taking office, Trump refused to rule out the use of military or economic force to take Greenland, a territory of Denmark, a NATO ally, and the Panama Canal. He also repeated that Canada should become the «51st state» of the United States. For anyone who reads the UN Charter, this is not innocent rhetoric: Article 2 forbids the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity of any State.

What he did to Brazil

In July 2025, at the request of Eduardo Bolsonaro, who had moved to the United States, the Trump administration took three measures in a few weeks: it revoked the visas of Brazilian judges, applied to Minister Alexandre de Moraes the sanctions of the Magnitsky Act — designed to punish human rights violators — and announced a 50% tariff on Brazilian products. The letter that communicated the tariff, dated July 9, 2025, invoked no economic reason: it invoked the trial of Jair Bolsonaro, which it called a «witch hunt.» Those who paid the bill were the producers of coffee, beef, fruit and footwear. Part of the tariffs was only withdrawn in November 2025, after months of negotiation by the Brazilian government.

Flávio's jet

In October 2026, Flávio Bolsonaro lost the election and, barred by the Supreme Court from leaving the country, left at night through Argentina. According to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, the jet that took him to Miami was arranged by Jason Miller, a communications adviser linked to the White House, in contact with Eduardo Bolsonaro. The owner of the company told AFP that the trip — 150 thousand dollars — was paid from an account at an American bank. The family was admitted with an authorization to stay for up to a year. Trump said he approved the entry: «I think they're good people; the election was very strange.» He presented no evidence of what he found strange.

Not all Americans applauded. On social media, many responded with the hashtag #DeportTheBolsonaros, recalling that the same government that hunts poor immigrants opened the door, and sent the plane, to a foreign politician friendly to the president.

«But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.»

James 2:9

«Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?»

Matthew 7:16

This article is part of the series that accompanies the book The Altar and the Algorithm — How to Identify the New Merchants of Faith. The rule is the same as in the book: separate proven fact from suspicion and from the denial of the defense, and put the source next to each statement.

The series «By Their Fruits»

• The far right that calls itself Christian
• Donald Trump
• Jair Bolsonaro
• Eduardo and Flávio Bolsonaro
• Javier Milei
• André Ventura

Sources

• Reuters — Trump does not rule out force for the Panama Canal and Greenland (01/07/2025)
• Roll Call — Inspector general: DHS does not know how many families it separated (2020)
• CNN Brasil — Trump adviser arranged jet for Flávio, says NYT (10/29/2026)
• Plataforma Media/AFP — The flight was paid from an account in the US (10/30/2026)
• Revista Fórum — Americans call for the deportation of the Bolsonaros (10/29/2026)