This is Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, whose election divided Brazil. And it’s safe to say he’s the country’s version of Donald Trump Jr.
Eduardo is actually one of three Bolsonaro sons who are in politics. His elder brothers, Carlos and Flávio, are a city council member in Rio de Janeiro and a newly elected member of Brazil’s Senate, respectively. (Their youngest brother is a law student.)
And unlike Trump Jr., Eduardo is a legislator in Brazil’s lower house of Congress, winning 1.8 million votes in the recent election, a record for a Brazilian lawmaker.
🇺🇸 Palestrando na Brazil-US Business Council, explanando o panorama político do novo congresso e a configuração do governo Bolsonaro que está por vir. É perceptível nos olhos dos investidores a animação a espera deste novo momento, certamente a confiança no Brasil virá em breve. https://t.co/WuWhkrO9Mi
But like Trump Jr., he took a very active role in his father’s campaign for the presidency and has helped rile up some of Jair’s more conspiracy-prone supporters.
In general, like the Trumps, he’s been one of his father’s biggest boosters and matched his rhetoric while stumping for him in the run-up to the election.
“Rightwing women are prettier than leftwing women,” Eduardo said during the campaign, lashing out at the women who called Jair a misogynist. “They don’t show the breasts in the streets, nor do they defecate in the streets. Rightwing women are more hygienic.”
Eduardo and Don Jr. even met up in January at a firearms show in Las Vegas.
“We had the opportunity to talk about our intentions for 2018 and also about the constant attacks we suffer from fake news media just as his family does,” Eduardo wrote at the time.
In recent days, though, he’s met with another of President Donald Trump’s family members: his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.
Reunião hoje de manhã com Jared Kushner @jaredkushner que é um dos mais importantes conselheiros da Casa Branca e grande empresário - além de ser genro do Presidente Trump @realDonaldTrump . https://t.co/EDPOAUZpCf
It’s part of a whirlwind tour of Washington that Eduardo’s documented on his Twitter feed.
Bom dia! - com @filgmartin @mcoimbra
Here he is hanging out with Sen. Ted Cruz (and Ted Cruz’s beard).
(ENG) Friendly conversation with Ted Cruz @tedcruz (Rep.-Texas🇺🇸), US conservative Senator committed to free internet, the right to bear arms and individual freedoms. We need to partner with the right people - with @filgmartin . https://t.co/CddMFK9Ior
He also met with Sen. Marco Rubio, whose anti-Cuba stance makes him a natural to receive a visit from Eduardo.
Satisfação conhecer ontem rapidamente o Senador Marco Rubio @marcorubio (Rep.-Florida) que tem destacada atuação em temas latino americanos como a defesa dos direitos humanos na Venezuela - com @filgmartin @mcoimbra https://t.co/qd0F18hSGE
He even managed to win an invite to former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s birthday party.
Estive hoje no jantar de aniversário de Steve Bannon🇺🇸 @SteveKBannon , pessoa ícone no combate ao marxismo cultural e a quem desejo muitas felicidades. Parabéns! https://t.co/PHBdDlHHAP
(In his tweet about the party, he referred to Bannon as an icon in the fight against “cultural marxism.” While Bolsonaro and his family are extremely pro-Israel, the phrase has gained favor among anti-Semites online.)
Eduardo also promised attendees at a meeting at AEI, a conservative think tank, that his father — who has denounced LGBT rights, praised the country’s former dictatorship, and has made racist comments about the country’s black population — would respect international human rights norms.
“The problem is that my father speaks to the public and the press in the same way as if he were at a barbecue,” he said of his father’s speeches, according to local magazine Exame.
He also discussed potential ways to increase pressure on Venezuela with White House staff.
“There are several instruments that Brazil for years, purposely, did not take seriously. They are instruments that are at hand,” he told reporters upon leaving a meeting at the White House. He cited money laundering and organized crime cases as examples of what road Brazil might take but ruled out military action.
The trip hasn’t been without controversy: While meeting with Kushner, Eduardo confirmed that his father will move Brazil’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem — after Jair had seemingly backed away from the decision over Arab countries’ concerns.
“We don’t know the date for the relocation or when it will happen, but we have an intention to do so,” the Jewish Telegraph Agency quoted him as telling Brazilian media while leaving the White House, decked out in a Trump 2020 hat.
Mudança de embaixada em Israel está decidida, diz Eduardo Bolsonaro https://t.co/vkZHuh9Xm8 @BolsonaroSP
When all is said and done, though...they do kind of look alike, don’t they?
