Politics - News Analysis

Caught Again? U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Reportedly Asked Brazilian Officials to Help Trump’s Reelection

Not that anyone’s surprised. The only surprising aspect to this story is the Trump administration’s willingness to be so damned open about their shameless corruption. It is supposed to be hard to find someone cheating at this level. But not Trump.

Trump’s ambassador to Brazil did his best “I need a favor” thing by asking Brazil to drop ethanol tarrifs on the United States because Trump’s partnership with Brazil’s president Bolsonaro is just too important (and the two dictators are way too tight) and Trump needs to win Iowa. Yes, he did. IN a LETTER. Not even a “phone call” as Trump did with Ukraine.

From the Washington Post:

House Democrats are demanding a reckoning from the U.S. ambassador to Brazil after news reports there said he was urging country officials to lower ethanol tariffs to help President Trump’s chances of reelection.

In a letter Friday to Ambassador Todd C. Chapman, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) and Western Hemisphere subcommittee Chairman Albio Sires (D-N.J.) cited a report in prominent Brazilian newspaper O Globo depicting Chapman telling Brazilian officials about “the importance for the [President Jair] Bolsonaro government of maintaining Donald Trump as U.S. President.” In the article, according to the letter, Chapman also communicated to Brazilian officials that it was important for their “government to do the U.S. a favor” by reducing ethanol tariffs, as those are important in the state of Iowa, a potential “key player” in 2020.

Damn it!

It is not supposed to be like this!! An administration may dearly want to use the machinery of government to get itself reelected, indeed they all want to put that advantage to use, and to the extent it happens – it happens quietly, and very understated. “Understandings.”

It is not supposed to be about money! And not in the open! This is quid pro quo: “Drop tariffs” (Money) because they’re critical to Iowa ethanol farmers (Trump voters) and if you do, Trump can cheer that “he” got it done (even though it was you), and your partnership with Trump will be rewarded (money, and power).

We say it all the time, but this alone is impeachment-worthy if Trump or Pompeo knew about this, and they almost surely did (Democrats demanding a “reckoning”), but Trump and his administration can no longer be restrained, at all.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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