1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Flávio Bolsonaro lost to Lula by more than four million votes. Then he refused to concede, arguing it was impossible to recognize the results. Sound like Trump’s kind of guy? Well, the president has decided to back his lies. Rigged elections. When Trump doesn’t like a result, that’s a tale as old as time. And just as predictable: there’s no evidence. Even Bolsonaro’s own party accepted the result. But Trump also landed on another outlandish lie. “I didn’t take sides.” Trump backed Bolsonaro’s campaign from the start. He ordered diplomats in Brazil to support Bolsonaro after his father was sentenced to 27 years in prison. He often praised him on social media, once calling him a “smart young man who loves his country.” And he hosted him for a White House meeting. Now Trump’s support is going one step further. On Monday, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports. He’s under investigation for money laundering, corruption, and financial crimes. Sounds like a great candidate for the Republican party. Bolsonaro responded to the order by saying he had “never thought about leaving the country.” On Tuesday, his passport deadline hit at noon. By that evening, he had landed outside Miami. The State Department says it will issue visas to him and his family. And a Trump adviser says the president personally signed off. Lula called the escape shameful. He said Bolsonaro should have stayed and proved his innocence. He has a point. People with nothing to hide don’t usually skip town. And we’ve seen this movie before. After Jair Bolsonaro lost in 2022, he decamped to Florida for three months, as his supporters stormed Brazil’s capital. Now his son is following the same flight path. This time, the White House is holding the door. What’s one more fugitive? That’s the bottom line. The Trump administration waged an aggressive deportation campaign, stoking fear about immigrant crime. It has made it harder for the skilled workers who drive American innovation to get visas. But a foreign politician running from a corruption investigation? Your visa is ready. Because this administration has a soft spot for the right kind of criminal with the right skin color.