Trump OKs Flávio Bolsonaro Coming to U.S. After 'Very Strange' Brazil Vote; Bessent Hits Obama's 'Darth Vader's Tomb'

President Donald Trump said he is fine with Brazil’s defeated conservative candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, coming to the United States, after Trump said the Brazilian vote looked bad. “Well, I would approve. I think they’re fine people. The election was very strange, and I thought it was terrible,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on his return from a campaign trip to Texas, CNBC reported [1].

“It would be okay with me,” Trump said, according to Newsweek [2].

The video above shows four moments from the final week of the midterm campaign: Trump on Bolsonaro, Trump on Brazil’s election, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outside a Cheesecake Factory, and Trump flashing Texas Tech’s “Guns Up” in Lubbock. Quotes are from CNBC, Newsweek, NBC News, Reuters, Fox Business, Fortune, Roll Call Factba.se, Lubbock Lights and the Amarillo Tribune [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11].

”I Would Approve”

“I think it’s so terrible to see it. I didn’t take sides, you know. I know them both. I know Lula. I know Flavio a little bit. I know the father very well,” Trump said [1].

“The father was treated really badly. I thought, but I wasn’t involved,” Trump said. “That’s Brazil. It’s a different country.” [1]

He also pointed to the markets. “It’s gotten bad reviews. You look at what happened to their market,” Trump said [3].

“The State Department will issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the U.S., a senior State Department official confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday afternoon,” NBC News reported [3].

“Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family arrived in Miami on Wednesday,” NBC News reported, citing Reuters [4].

Bolsonaro thanked the president. “This is a land of freedoms and brothers who share the same values as the good people of my country,” he said of the United States, calling Trump “a great defender of freedom of expression,” Newsweek reported [2].

“I want to make this clear: I did not flee Brazil; I left for Brazil’s sake,” Bolsonaro said [2].

”It Looked Very Bad to Me”

On Monday, Trump was asked about the result in Brazil, where leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term. “I didn’t take sides, but it looked like another rigged election,” Trump told reporters, according to Reuters. “It looked very bad to me.” [5]

“I just think it had a very bad look, the election, the way it was tabulated,” Trump said. “The extension given was very strange.” [5]

Bolsonaro had said he would seek to annul Lula’s victory “after the Supreme Court extended voting by two hours,” Reuters reported [5].

Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party later accepted the outcome while pressing its concerns. “We recognize the presidential election results,” party leader Valdemar Costa Neto said. “But we believe the issues raised need to be properly clarified.” [5]

The markets reacted fast. “Brazil’s real fell 8.1% against the dollar in its biggest one-day drop since 2002, while the stock exchange marked its steepest one-day fall since 2020,” Reuters reported [5].

”Darth Vader’s Tomb”

Back in Washington, Bessent answered Barack Obama’s jab that Trump has the White House “looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory” by having lunch at one, Fox Business reported [6].

“This is the man who built the museum and it looks like Darth Vader’s tomb,” Bessent said. “I had a great meal. I always have a great meal, and I would tell the Martha’s Vineyard set to give it a try.” [6]

Bessent was talking about the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. “The projected price tag of the Obama Presidential Center has surged from its original estimate of $350 million to more than $1 billion, according to previous reporting by Fox News Digital,” Fox Business reported [6].

Bessent said he ordered “what I always have: the French Dip Cheeseburger,” CNBC reported. “I recommend the Cheeseburger Spring Rolls,” Bessent added in a post on X [7].

The White House joined in. Its official X account posted a mock Cheesecake Factory menu with items like “The Border Security Special” and “The American Energy Feast,” Fortune reported [8].

“Since we’re talking about The Cheesecake Factory, the only thing bigger than the menu is the list of President Trump’s accomplishments,” the post read [8].

”Guns Up” in Lubbock

On Tuesday, Trump rallied in Lubbock for Senate candidate Ken Paxton and gave a shout-out to Texas Tech. “Chairman of the Board of Regents at Texas Tech. What a good school, what a good school,” Trump said, according to the Roll Call Factba.se transcript [9].

“No, you always do well and even people, they — they know they’re in a fight when they’re fighting Texas Tech,” Trump said. “I know a lot of people that went there.” [9]

He also flashed the school’s “Guns Up” hand sign. “He did do the guns up,” said rallygoer Kim Owens. “That was a big deal.” [10]

“Local media reports estimated 15,000 people lined up around the Civic Center, with about 5,000 getting inside,” Lubbock Lights reported [10].

“Trump entered to thunderous cheers, tossing hats emblazoned with the phrase, ‘Trump was right about everything,’ into the crowd,” the Amarillo Tribune reported. Trump “spoke for around two hours,” the paper reported [11].

By the Numbers

More than 64 million: votes for Lula, compared with fewer than 60 million for Bolsonaro, per Newsweek [2].
Fewer than 35,000: votes cast in the extra two hours of voting, per Reuters [5].
8.1%: the one-day drop in Brazil’s real against the dollar after the vote, per Reuters [5].
$1.03 billion: Cheesecake Factory’s record third-quarter revenue, up 14%, per Fortune [8].
15,000: people who lined up for Trump’s Lubbock rally, per local media estimates [10].

What’s Next

Bolsonaro said he would “lead the opposition from here” and unveil a strategy in the coming days to mobilize his supporters through what he called “peaceful and legitimate means,” Newsweek reported [2].

In Texas, Paxton faces Democrat James Talarico in the heated race for U.S. Senate, the Amarillo Tribune reported [11].

For Trump’s answer to Obama’s Cheesecake Factory jab, see HYGO News’ page on Trump and Obama. For how the midterms work, see the 2026 midterm elections explainer.