Crypto News: Brazil’s outcast banks on Trump

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Holed up in Brazil under threat of arrest, former President Jair Bolsonaro is looking to Donald Trump for a lifeline.

The man once dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics" sees his political mentor's return to power as a chance to escape his legal difficulties, overturn a ban on running for office and fight next year's presidential election.

In a rare interview, Bolsonaro exuded excitement about what's to come from the man he refers to as Trumpão — Big Trump — and less flatteringly, Big Carrot, a reference to the president's orange-hued tan.

WATCH: Bolsonaro comments during an interview with Bloomberg.

His hope is that Trump and like-minded leaders including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Argentina's Javier Milei come to his aid.

While refusing to discuss specifics, he sees an international mobilization of nationalist right-wing forces pressuring leftist Brazilian officials "to recognize that Brazil's elections won't be fair as there is no opposition."

Bolsonaro was a Covid-vaccine skeptic whose supporters attempted an alleged coup after his election defeat. He cast doubt on the voting system and is legally barred from leaving the country. His musings could be dismissed as fantasy.

Yet they show the expectations that flow from Trump's willingness to push nations to submit to his will.

We saw it in the short-lived US tariffs slapped on Colombia over deportation flights.

It's there in the flurry of pledges from Saudi Arabia to India intended to appease Trump. Denmark is struggling to identify a response that could possibly address the president's demands for US control of Greenland — if that is indeed what he really wants.

Milei, in an interview last week, said it's hard to grasp what the ultimate goal is "if you fail to understand the playing field that Trump is playing on."

That's an ominous warning to any government leaders who still don't get it. — Alan Crawford

A book belonging to Bolsonaro signed by Trump. Photographer: Arthur Menescal/Bloomberg

Global Must Reads

European Union officials are trying to rally support from member states as they brace for Trump to play on their divisions to force through his "America First" agenda. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, urged governments in a private meeting last week to remain united, with some comparing the situation to the Brexit negotiations with the UK, sources say.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said his government plans to rebuild Gaza with help from the US and Saudi Arabia, a process he said would reshape the Middle East and require the removal of Hamas from power and Israel from the ground. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi rejected the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, after Trump suggested the war-torn territory's inhabitants could be moved to Egypt and Jordan.

A displaced Palestinian woman returning to the north from the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

Democratic Republic of Congo warned of "unpredictable consequences" after a group allegedly backed by neighbor Rwanda seized a key eastern city. President Felix Tshisekedi called for resistance from Congolese as M23 rebels increased their hold over Goma and expanded their campaign into mineral-rich South Kivu province. Rwanda's Paul Kagame and South African leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, exchanged threats over the conflict.

The Syrian rebel group that ousted Bashar al-Assad dissolved parliament, dismantled the country's armed apparatus and appointed its de facto leader the country's new president, a series of moves meant to clear the way for a political transition, according to state media. The group nullified a 2012 constitution and disbanded Assad's Baath party, while no time-frame was set for elections or drafting a new constitution.

Angela Merkel unexpectedly weighed into Germany's election campaign today with a potentially devastating slapdown of her conservative party's leader and favorite to become chancellor, Friedrich Merz, saying that he was wrong to work with the far-right AfD in parliament. Merz's decision to depend on the AfD to pass a hard-line immigration motion yesterday has appalled much of Germany and the ruling Social Democrats and Greens, alienating his two most likely partners to form a coalition.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz looks at Merz during yesterday's debate. Photographer: Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance/Getty Images

French lawmakers will attempt to thrash out a budget compromise today that can get enough support to avert another government collapse and restore a measure of certainty to the country's public finances.

Chile's Congress gave its final approval to a reform policy that will boost pensions for current and future retirees, handing President Gabriel Boric only a partial win following major concessions from his government ahead of elections later this year.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives in suburban Sydney was part of a terrorist plot, with local officials drawing a link to a recent spate of antisemitic attacks.

A regional American Airlines jet collided in a deadly midair crash with a military helicopter, prompting a search and rescue operation for survivors in Washington's Potomac River in what is an early test for new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

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Chart of the Day

Five years of rapid European growth for Chinese electric-car manufacturers ground to a halt in 2024, as trade barriers added to the challenge of building up sales in a stagnant market. December marked the second month of added EU tariffs imposed after the bloc found that state aid provided an unfair advantage for all Chinese-made EVs, keeping their prices lower.

And Finally

If you're searching for information about what happened in Beijing in the summer of 1989, when soldiers killed hundreds, and possibly thousands, of demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, what you'll learn will depend on where you are or the origins of the technology you're using. DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot that's caught the world's attention by performing as well as its top rivals despite costing much less to develop, is designed to sidestep sensitive questions about China and its government.

Soldiers stand guard in Tiananmen Square after a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1. Photographer: Andrea Verdelli/Bloomberg