The Trump and Bolsonaro Time Machine
The Trump and Bolsonaro Time Machine
The two presidents’ penchants for looking to the past have the U.S. and Brazil on the wrong track.
George Santayana, a Spanish philosopher, in 1905 coined an oft-repeated maxim: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Presidents Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro seem to think that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Indeed, as far as their visions for the future are concerned, the current leaders of the U.S. and Brazil have much in common. Start with each country’s position on the global economy.
Here, both Trump and Bolsonaro are focused on national, rather than international, expansion. Trump’s unachievable insistence on deals to assure a positive trade...
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