The One Where Trump’s Brazilian Buddy Bolsonaro Prepares to Jail Glenn Greenwald
Despite yesterday’s shit-show on the White House lawn, there are real issues of free speech, freedom of the press, and censorship happening around the world.
Greenwald, an attorney-turned-journalist who has long been a free-speech advocate, has found himself at the center of the first major test of press freedom under Bolsonaro, who took office on Jan. 1 and has openly expressed nostalgia for Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship — a period when newspapers were censored and some journalists tortured.
provincial journalists sometimes face grave dangers in Brazil — two owners of local media outlets were recently shot and killed in a coastal town outside Rio de Janeiro — the federal government in recent decades has rarely tried to stifle reporters. One exception was when then-President da Silva briefly tried to deport New York Times correspondent Larry Rohter in 2004 after a report that suggested he drank heavily.
Greenwald, who lives in Rio de Janeiro, is now accompanied by private security guards and says he and other staff at The Intercept have received sophisticated, detailed death threats that sometimes include private personal information.
Does anyone else wonder how Greenwald feels about his idol, Trump, now?
Perhaps he’s starting to regret his shrill hysteria over Hilary? Maybe when the boots kick in the door and he’s dragged out - and Trump laughs and gives his torturers the enthusiastic thumbs-up - will there be a moment of regret from Greenwald over being such a mendacious, lying little shit?
Big bonesaws await.