Declaring not just sympathy but outright admiration for a fascist who has threatened violence against his leftist political opponents, celebrated the use of torture, and promised to give the police free rein to murder at will, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton on Thursday praised Brazil’s newly elected strongman President Jair Bolsonaro as a “like-minded” partner who shares the Trump administration’s commitment to so-called “free market principles.”

“John Bolton just came to Miami’s Freedom Tower and gave a speech praising Jair Bolsonaro, the wannabe Brazilian neofascist who wants to bring back the country’s dictatorship, torture people, and kill dissidents.”
—Jerry Iannelli, Miami New Times

“The recent elections of like-minded leaders in key countries, including Ivan Duque in Colombia, and last weekend Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, are positive signs for the future of the region, and demonstrate a growing regional commitment to free-market principles, and open, transparent, and accountable governance,” Bolton said during a speech at Miami-Dade College.

“[T]oday, in this hemisphere, we are also confronted once again with the destructive forces of oppression, socialism, totalitarianism,” Bolton added.

But Bolton went on to proclaim that with the rise of Bolsonaro, “the Troika of Tyranny in this hemisphere—Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua—has finally met its match,” coining a phrase that immediately drew comparisons to former President George W. Bush’s infamous “Axis of Evil” line, which was used repeatedly to justify America’s disastrous invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Vox‘s Alex Ward described Bolton’s remarks as a “modern-day ‘Axis of Evil’ speech.”

Intensifying fears that the Trump administration could be considering military action against Latin American nations it has deemed enemies, Bolton announced that the White House plans to take “direct action against” Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua “to defend the rule of law, liberty, and basic human decency in our region.”