MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula lambasts Trump for prolific social media posting

We have to put our individual interests aside, Lula insisted (Pic REUTERS)

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized his US colleague Donald Trump for spending too much time on social media, averaging 17 posts daily since Jan. 20, 2025. The Brazilian leader urged Trump to focus on governing, promoting free trade, multilateralism, and peace, rather than seeking headlines.

Lula also criticized global war spending and the US for not recognizing Brazil’s corn crop and Santos Dumont’s role in aviation history. Additionally, he defended Finance Minister Fernando Haddad against flak over a proposed tax increase, highlighting achievements like Brazil’s Tax Reform and questioning why fiscal deficits were overlooked under the previous administration.

Trump has published over 2,100 posts on his Truth Social platform since returning to the White House on Jan. 20, The Independent reported earlier this month. He was even more active online during the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict.

“In this troubled world, where we have a president of a country the size of the US, who must watch his words, think about what he says, must spend less time on the internet and more heading the state, must think more about free trade, multilateralism, must care more about peace,” Lula told G1. “And what do we see every day in the press? The need for goddamn headlines,” Lula added.

“I go quickly as hell. You would be amazed. You would be impressed. And I like doing them myself. Sometimes I dictate them out, but I like doing them myself,” Trump admitted in an interview with The Atlantic in April.

The Brazilian leftwing leader does not see eye to eye with Trump, who was on good terms with his rightwing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

“We've had presidents like [Trump] before. In other words, what matters less is the truth, what matters less is the country. What matters are shady objectives,” Lula further argued.

The head of the Planalto Palace also criticized the US for not recognizing Brazil's so-called corn crop. “When it was an off-season, they even wanted to recognize it, but now that the off-season is bigger than the normal harvest, they don't want to recognize it. In the same way that they never acknowledged that Santos Dumont invented the airplane, and we're just going to keep quiet? Are we going to accept it?” he wondered.

Lula also stood behind Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, who wants to raise the IOF (Tax on Financial Operations). “There comes a time when we must put our individual interests aside and think about the country. You know how seriously Haddad takes the economy,” Lula underlined.

“Right now, every day, there is talk of a fiscal deficit. Who worried about the fiscal deficit in the last government? Which businessman went to the press to say that [former Economy Minister Paulo] Guedes had a fiscal deficit?” he insisted.