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‘I hate to say it, but Brazil is very high, the graph is very, very high. Up there, almost vertical, ” Trump said Thursday (30) of the country’s coronavirus pandemic.
In a press conference at the White House on Thursday night (30), US President Donald Trump commented again on the situation of the covid-19 epidemic in Brazil, which today represents 5,901 deaths and 85,380 cases, and in the last 24 hours. had a record of new diagnoses, 7,200.
“I hate to say it, but Brazil is very high, the graph is very, very high. Up there, almost vertical,” said the American, who continued: “The President of Brazil is really a good friend of mine, a great man, but they live at a very difficult time. “
Trump mentioned the Brazilian situation when commenting on the case of Sweden, which according to him has also had negative numbers in the coronavirus pandemic.
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According to Trump, the problem was the decision of the European country not to impose confinement, wide social isolation. In a post on Thursday on his Twitter account, Trump said the Swedes “are paying a heavy price” for avoiding quarantine, with more deaths than their neighbors, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
“The United States made the right decision,” Trump published.
Six months after running for reelection, Trump has tried to justify the drastic results of the recession (the US economy contracted 4.8% in the first quarter of 2020) by choosing to prioritize the health and lives of Americans, while It has been pressuring governors to reopen business in the states. He fears that the crisis, which has already resulted in 30 million unemployed, may cost votes in November, when the elections will be held.
Second mention of Brazil this week
It is the second time in just over 48 hours that Trump mentions Brazil as a negative example of the fight against the pandemic.
On Tuesday 28, at a conference with Florida Governor Ron de Santis, Trump said: “Brazil practically has an outbreak, as you know (…) If you look at the charts, you will see what unfortunately happened with Brazil. We are looking at it very close up “.
At the time, Trump asked De Santis if he was considering banning flights from Brazil to Florida and mentioned that the country fared worse than other South American neighbors in controlling the virus.
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Doug Mills / The New York Times / Pool / Getty Images
Meeting on the 28th between Florida Governor Ron de Santis and Trump; On this day, the US President also spoke of Brazil as a negative example in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The US federal government. USA He has been studying a measure like this for about a month and Trump says his decision on the matter will be made in the coming days.
So far, the Florida governor has ruled out banning flights from Brazil to his state, but said he is looking into forcing airlines to subject Brazilians to rapid tests for coronavirus before boarding. Brazil is Florida’s main trading partner.
Critics of the priority ally
Expressing public concern twice in the same week about Brazil’s condition in the face of the epidemic, Trump sends a strong message to Bolsonaro and suggests that his colleague not approve of the conduct of the crisis.
Bolsonaro downplayed the crisis several times and this Wednesday, confronted by reporters with the death toll, replied: “So what? What do you want me to do?”
The Brazilian president criticizes the quarantine measures, which he circumvents almost daily, and has been putting pressure on governors and mayors to relax the social gap. The stance led to the crisis with his then health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was fired in mid-April.
Trump is Brazil’s preferred ally in world chess today and Bolsonaro has been in the country four times since taking office, a record among Brazilian presidents after re-democratization.
The American has carefully followed the situation in the country. On Wednesday 29, its Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, and Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo had a telephone conversation to discuss the importance of a centralized response against Covid-19 in the Americas. They also discussed efforts to produce medical supplies and a vaccine against the disease.
The concern of the American president is that the epidemic in Brazil could lead to the return of an outbreak in the United States, due to the transit of people between the two countries. A second wave of disease, in addition to further depleting the human and financial resources of the United States. Already having more than a million cases and more than 60,000 deaths, the US could spell the end of Trump’s candidacy for the White House.
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