Thread by @ishaantharoor

Bolsonaro is up.

Says Venezuela is "experiencing the cruelty of socialism" and that "socialism is working" given that Venezuelans are "poor and deprived of freedom." Ideological point scoring, check.

"There can't be political freedom without economic freedom." Not exactly a line you expect from a democratically elected official.

Bolsonaro decries "sensationalist" attacks from international media over the fires of the Amazon. "It is a fallacy to say that the Amazon is the heritage of humankind" and "the lungs of the world." Bolsonaro is framing this in sovereigntist terms.

Bolsonaro says he won't expand protections of indigenous lands and then seemed to link the forest fires to indigenous cultural practices. Not a word yet on illegal deforestation.

He says NGOs and int'l community want to keep the indigenous people as "cavemen."

Bolsonaro reads out a letter from a group of "indigenous farmers" backing a specific leader in attendance at UNGA who backs his call for development. Here's another letter from 16 indigenous leaders accusing Bolsonaro of "genocidal, ethnocidal" policies. theguardian.com/world/2019/sep…

I was in Davos for Bolsonaro's first major speech on the world stage. Gotta say this one is way more fun.

And by "fun," I don't really mean fun. But there's no disguising the ideological animus here. A pretty coherent thorough articulation of the nationalist, climate skeptic view of the world.

Bolsonaro attacks his predecessors who were "all applauded" when they came to the UN and made "totally disengaged" speeches. He's fully aware of how much of the international community sees him in a negative light.

And now the pandering to Trump: Echoing the US president's "religious freedom" message, widely seen as counter-programming in a week when the UN prioritized the issues of climate action and universal healthcare.

Bolsonaro speaking about the threat of "ideology" — "it has invaded our homes," schools, "destroyed the innocence of our children." "Ideology has invaded the human soul itself to expel God." As if there's no ideology in his own political project.

And now we have Trump!

"The free world must embrace its national foundations... it must not attempt to replace them... the future does not belong to globalists, it belongs to patriots." Like Bolsonaro, Trump speaks to a spectral bogeyman.

Plenty on China, and nothing on Iran, yet, but sure it will come.

Trump raises Hong Kong, says expects China to honor one country, two systems and terms of 1997 handover. "We are all counting on President Xi to be a great leader."

Trump explicitly connects Iran's recent actions to the unilateral sanctions his administration imposed on Tehran after breaking with the terms of the nuclear deal.

Super low energy, huh.

Trump decries the "fall sense of virtue" of "open borders activists" — who exactly? Another spectral bogeyman.

Like Bolsonaro, Trump attacks "socialism," "the wrecker of nations and destroyer of societies."

And like Bolsonaro, Trump attacks academic institutions and media for supposedly undermining US history and traditions. UNGA kicked off by two stridently nationalist speeches.

In UN's live footage, you can see Trump was immediately greeted after his speech by a grinning Sissi and then his daughter Ivanka.