Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Tucker Carlson, at Alvorada Palace, in Brasília. (Photo: @jairbolsonaro/Twitter)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro sat for an exclusive interview to Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson earlier this week. The interview took place at the official residence of the Brazilian president.
The conversation was broadcast to millions of Americans, who had the opportunity to get to know a different reality from what other ideologically biased broadcasters usually present about Brazil and its president.
Bolsonaro stated that his election was a miracle and that if the left comes back to power, it will never leave. He also talked about the knife attack he suffered during the 2018 election campaign, carried out by a leftist militant.
He pointed to the attrition caused by the Chinese virus pandemic, the negative consequences of lockdowns, as well as high levels of inflation due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
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Despite these factors, Brazil has picked up its economy, with unemployment falling sharply.
Some of the strong points addressed by the president were the population disarmament policies and the legalization of abortion, themes he opposes, as does most of the Brazilian population, which is mostly Christian.
If the far-left former president Lula returns to power, he will be able to appoint two more judges to the Supreme Court. Bolsonaro claims that the former president’s nominees will be laws authorizing abortion, which is banned in Brazil. The Brazilian president said he was happy with the US Supreme Court’s decision that disallowed abortion in the country.
“When the U.S. Supreme Court changed its understanding on abortion, the left here did not like it. But we like the new position taken because we have defended life since conception“, he said.
In the interview, Bolsonaro recalled how much he was criticized for not instituting a national quarantine during the pandemic, the fact that he did not take the vaccine, and that he used other drugs for early treatment when he had the virus, such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.
Bolsonaro bought the vaccine for Brazilians, even fearful of the possible reactions, because the population was desperate, respected individual freedoms by not requiring them to be vaccinated or imposing restrictive measures.
“In Brazil, governors had a taste of acting like dictators, forcing everyone to stay home, closing businesses, preventing people from going to school if they didn’t get vaccinated. They felt this power in their hands; they could do whatever they wanted during the pandemic“, he said.
Carlson talked about international artists suddenly discovering Amazon and blaming Bolsonaro for being negligent. He responds that there is an interest in relativizing sovereignty over the region and admits that there is illegal deforestation, but his administration has worked to address the situation. In his opinion, the use of more technology will help in the protection and monitoring of the forest.
“They talk about the Amazon because it’s fashionable. In Europe, if you say that the Amazon is not being deforested, you are politically dead. They don’t understand anything about the region or about investing in it. They only criticize it because it’s fashionable“, he said.
On gun policy in Brazil, Bolsonaro talked about the changes that his administration promoted in Brazilian laws. After facilitating citizens’ access to weapons, crime has reduced in Brazil.
“There was a substantial increase in the number of people who legally own guns in Brazil. And the consequence of this was a substantial drop in the number of crimes committed with firearms in our country. We understand that once people arm themselves, criminals and thieves will think twice before invading other people’s property,” he said. “If the number of crimes increased, it would be my fault. But what is happening today is exactly the opposite“, the Brazilian president finalized.
Here is the video from FOX News.