Trump and Pompeo praise Brazil's new president, who has a history of homophobia, racism, and misogyny

Marcos Correa/Reuters

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a meeting with Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia, Brazil, on January 2, 2019.

• President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been lavishing praise on Jair Bolsonaro, the controversial new president of Brazil. 
• Bolsonaro, a divisive far-right politician with a history of making homophobic, racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic remarks was sworn in on Tuesday. 
• On Bolsonaro's first day in office, he issued executive orders that targeted indigenous peoples, the LBGTQ community, and descendants of slaves.
• Pompeo said he's looking forward to working with Bolsonaro's government to support those suffering "under the weight of dictatorships."
• Bolsonaro has defended the dictatorship that presided over Brazil from 1964 to 1985. 

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been lavishing praise on Jair Bolsonaro, the controversial new president of Brazil. 

Bolsonaro, a divisive far-right politician with a history of making homophobic, racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic remarks, was sworn in on Tuesday. 

Trump congratulated the new Brazilian leader, a former army captain and longtime congressman who's been dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics," in a tweet: "Congratulations to President @JairBolsonaro who just made a great inauguration speech - the U.S.A. is with you!"

Read more: The 'Brazilian Donald Trump' just became president in a landslide. He got there despite saying he couldn't love a gay son and that a colleague was too 'ugly' to be raped.

In what appears to be a budding bromance, Bolsonaro replied to Trump, tweeting, "Dear Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, I truly appreciate your words of encouragement. Together, under God's protection, we shall bring prosperity and progress to our people."

Meanwhile, Pompeo also showered Bolsonaro with praise.

The secretary of state, who was in Brazil this week for Bolsonaro's inauguration, tweeted, "Great meeting President @jairbolsonaro to reinforce our shared commitment to democracy, education, prosperity, security, and #humanrights. Look forward to working together to support those suffering in #Cuba, #Nicaragua, and #Venezuela under the weight of dictatorships."

A spokesman for the State Department said Pompeo met with Brazil's new right-wing government to discuss "supporting the people of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in restoring democratic governance and their human rights."

On Bolsonaro's first day in office, he issued executive orders that targeted indigenous peoples, the LBGTQ community, and descendants of slaves.

One of the orders will make it difficult for land to be identified and demarcated for both indigenous groups and "Quilombolas," a word for the descendants of slaves, the Associated Press reported. Another order removed the concerns of the LGBTQ community from the new human rights ministry. 

These moves fall in line with Bolsonaro's rhetoric toward minority groups and the LGBTQ community. 

As INSIDER previously reported:

• In 2011, Bolsonaro told Playboy magazine he would "be incapable of loving a homosexual son."
• "I won't be a hypocrite: I prefer a son to die in an accident than show up with a mustachioed guy. He'd be dead to me anyway," Bolsonaro said.
• He was also criticized in 2014 after suggesting a female colleague in congress was too ugly to be raped.
• "She doesn't deserve to be raped, because she's very ugly," Bolsonaro said at the time. "She's not my type. I would never rape her. I'm not a rapist, but if I were, I wouldn't rape her because she doesn't deserve it."
• Bolsonaro also once described Afro-Brazilians as lazy and fat, and he has called refugees from Haiti, Africa, and the Middle East as the "scum of humanity."
• And back in the early 1990s, he suggested he was in favor of a dictatorship.
• Years later, in 2015 he defended the brutal dictatorship that presided over Brazil from 1964 to 1985, which was responsible for numerous atrocities in its campaign to rid the country of communism.
• More recently, Bolsonaro in September suggested his political opponents should be shot. The same week, Bolsonaro was stabbed along the campaign trail, an incident that saw his poll numbers rise.

Trump and Pompeo do not seem to be concerned with Bolsonaro's incendiary rhetoric or his professed affinity for and nostalgia toward Brazil's former dictatorship. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.