All posts tagged "amazon"

One big fat bribe sums up the moral squalor of Trump's pet billionaires

I haven’t seen it. I hope you don’t, either.

This, from one of the kinder reviews:

“Across some 104 minutes, the first lady delivers these blatantly scripted and meaningless narrations with all the conviction of someone who just woke up from a two-hour nap and can’t remember what day it is.”

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times sees a “glossy, curiously impersonal” portrait of a woman who “rarely drops her Sphinxlike deadpan.” Nick Hilton of The Independent calls the first lady a “scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda.” Guardian critic Xan Brooks says it “doesn’t have a single redeeming quality” and compares it to a “medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.”

Not since The Washington Post music critic Paul Hume observed that Margaret Truman’s singing voice in Constitution Hall in 1950 was “flat a good deal of the time” has a performance by a member of a sitting president’s family generated such averse reviews.

Yet because the The Washington Post is now owned by the man who spent $75 million on the movie ($40 million to make it, $35 million to promote it), I somehow doubt The Post will crap on it. (At least Monica Hesse, in her review for The Post, had the honesty to confess that “if you suspect I have come here today to trash a movie about the wife of a notoriously thin-skinned, anti-journalist president, which was bankrolled by the company owned by the man who also pays my salary — NOT TODAY, SATAN. Do you think I’m a moron?”)

My purpose today is less to highlight this inane excuse for a film than to talk about its real excuse — allowing Jeff Bezos to give a big fat bribe to the president of the United States.

Why would Bezos bribe him? Please.

Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, owns Amazon and many other businesses that depend on the whims of the sociopath in the Oval Office. (Trump sold the idea of the documentary to Bezos when he dined at Mar-a-Lago in December 2024, just after the election, according to the The Wall Street Journal.)

Bezos’s Amazon Web Services has a $1 billion agreement with the General Services Administration for cloud services, which presumably Bezos would like renewed. His rocket company, Blue Origin, has over $2.3 billion in contracts from the U.S. Space Force.

Several of Bezos’s companies are subject to potential tariffs on goods from China. Amazon is under the cloud of a major antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (when the FTC was still independent — before it came under the putative control of the Oval Office). The trial is expected in 2027.

And so on.

Friends, when the history of this sordid period of America is written — assuming it’s not written by historians trying to curry favor with a future fascist regime — I hope the leaders of American business are condemned to the hellfire they deserve for helping destroy American democracy.

The outer ring of hell will be reserved for CEOs who stayed silent so as not to rile the narcissist-in-chief.

Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase will reside here because, notwithstanding his assumed role as spokesman for American business, Dimon has uttered no criticism of Trump other than to suggest, in the vaguest possible terms, that Trump’s attack on the Federal Reserve’s independence “is probably not a great idea.”

The middle ring will be reserved for business leaders who surrendered to Trump’s extortionist demands for personal payoffs.

The Ellisons, père Larry (the world’s third-richest person) et fils David, will be there, along with Shari Redstone and the board of Paramount, for paying Trump $16 million to settle his utterly baseless lawsuit against CBS.

Also in this middle ring will be Bob Iger, CEO of Disney (which owns ABC) and Debra OConnell, the president of ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks, for giving Trump $15 million to settle his equally spurious lawsuit against ABC News.

In the inner ring, where hell fires burn especially hot, will be business leaders who went beyond acquiescing to Trump’s extortion and decided to pay him big fat bribes.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, will have pride of place here, after spending a quarter of a billion dollars getting Trump elected.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, will get a spot here for lavishing on Trump a custom-designed glass plaque mounted on a 24-karat gold base.

We’ll also find here the CEOs who coughed up $300,000 each for Trump’s ballroom — including crypto magnates Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, oil tycoon Harold Hamm, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, and every Big Tech mogul.

But Bezos, with his $75 million bribe of Trump, will deserve a special place in the innermost ring of hell.

The $40 million he paid Melania Trump’s production company is at least $35 million more than the cost of typical high-end documentaries. (By way of comparison, Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films produced “RBG,” a documentary about the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for around $1 million.)

Melania Trump pocketed more than 70 percent of that $40 million — or more than $28 million — the Journal reported.

The additional $35 million Bezos shelled out for marketing “Melania” is 10 times what other high-profile documentaries spend on marketing. The promotional budget for “RBG” was about $3 million. (To be sure, Melania Trump is no Ruth Bader Ginsburg, so I suppose you might argue that Melania needed a larger promo budget. But this much larger?)

All this, at a time when Bezos is slashing the newsroom at the Post — it’s heart and soul — in order to “economize.” Forget the inner ring. Bezos deserves to be at the center of the inferno.

The promo money apparently worked, at least in the U.S., where opening-weekend ticket sales for “Melania” totaled $7 million.

But let’s be realistic. A $35 million promotional budget will get people into theaters to see paint drying.

If all goes well — given that opening weekend is usually about 25 percent of total box office and that movie houses pocket half — Amazon could end up with about $14 million on its $75 million investment. A pittance.

Yet this was never a financial investment. It was an investment in kissing Trump’s derriere. As Ted Hope, who was instrumental in starting Amazon’s film division, wondered aloud to The New York Times: “How can it not be equated with currying favor or an outright bribe? How can that not be the case?”

Of course it’s an outright bribe.

If America still had a Department of Justice, Bezos would be indicted for bribery of a public official pursuant to 18 U.S. Code § 201, which criminalizes offering or giving anything of value to a public official with the intent to influence their official actions. Penalty: imprisonment for up to 15 years.

(Also note: The U.S. Constitution lists taking a bribe as an impeachable offense for a president.)

There’s a statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of such bribes: Prosecution must begin within five years of the deed.

So, my friends, if America gets a true Justice Department starting in January of 2029, Bezos’s inferno may become a reality.

Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org

This horror show unmasks exactly what Melania is

If you’ve lost your mind, have no taste or scruples, and plan to waste your hard-earned money to see the new Melania Trump documentary, you should be ashamed of yourself.

But should morbid curiosity win out, may I suggest stopping at an off-the-rack store to purchase a knockoff of the UFO hat Melania wore to her husband’s inauguration, then pulling it low to preserve anonymity as you slip into your seat. No one should know you willingly participated in this gilded F-U to America and its working class.

You will see only what Melania wants you to see — and that is the same glossy illusion she’s been selling for years. Chilly, aloof, stuck-up, untouchable. Above it all. Put plainly, a bitchy snob.

This film is no interrogation of its subject, which is the point of documentaries. It doesn’t reveal her authentic self, another core objective of the form. It does not document public service, because there is none. It merely worships its subject. All it really documents is the business of being rich while married to an infantile, uncouth, deeply disturbed, narcissistic, obese, simple-minded wannabe dictator.

Set in the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s macabre 2025 inauguration, the film obsesses over designers, styling sessions, and monetizing the First Lady brand. Viewers are treated to endless couture fittings of Adam Lippes looks that cost thousands upon thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, while Melania wraps herself in finery, millions of Americans struggle to afford groceries, rent, health care, and basic clothing that isn’t custom-made.

This is a celebration of wealth. Think about Trump’s inauguration, its attendant billionaires: Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos. A who’s who of obscene male wealth, all nuzzled beneath Melania’s alien hat.

Where were the MAGA faithful? Banished. Relegated to the basement. Because Melania can’t bear to be in the same room. If they show up for this film, they are farther gone than we could ever imagine.

Melania Trump has never given a rat’s ass about the MAGA masses. She doesn’t campaign in red states. She doesn’t shake hands in diners. She doesn’t glad-hand ropelines. She doesn’t slog through town halls or even feign interest in her husband’s rambling, racist rallies.

She has no idea what a grocery store receipt looks like, what a paycheck feels like, or how much health care costs. She avoids the lowly with thinly veiled contempt. This documentary only reinforces that disdain.

This film is not for them. Nor is it for us, struggling to make ends meet. It is for the elite, by the elite, a cinematic middle finger to anyone not living the lifestyle of the undeservedly rich and famous.

The closest thing to “substance” in Melania’s White House life is her farcical “Be Best” initiative, meant to encourage kids to excel. This, from someone to whom kindness and generosity is as foreign as her accent? Do we see her touring schools? Sitting with families? Doing the grinding, unglamorous work of advocacy? Of course not. What we see is a woman enriching herself.

Remember the jacket she wore in 2018 that read, “I really don’t care, do you?”? It still fits. The only thing Melania Trump cares about is money. More money. Even more money, on top of that.

Which brings us to the grotesque excess of the film itself. The documentary isn’t just a prestige project. It’s a cash cow. A reported $75 million exercise in kissing the rotund ass of her husband, courtesy of Bezos and Amazon.

It’s a reminder that for the Trumps, public office is never public service. It’s grift. Always has been. Always will be.

Melania reportedly pocketed nearly $250,000 just to appear at a Log Cabin Republicans fundraiser. A fundraiser. She sought another quarter-million for an interview tied to her poorly reviewed book.

That grift was on full display at last week’s black-tie White House film screening, a spectacle so tone deaf it bordered on insanity. As the country reeled from the killing by federal agents of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis, the Trumps rolled out the red carpet for tech CEOs in tuxedos.

The callous Melania was pissed off Pretti overshadowed her big night. The nerve of a lowly nurse, stealing her lamentable limelight.

Same story at the Kennedy Center premiere on Thursday night. A parade of sycophants and lackeys, some likely attending under duress. No one is buying tickets for this cinematic s–t-show. Though of course, Donald will find a way to call his wife’s flagrant flop a hit.

Adding to the rot is the director, Brett Ratner, exiled from directing for 12 years after multiple respected figures — Olivia Munn, Natasha Henstridge and Elliot Page among them — accused him of sexual harassment, assault, and misconduct.

He denied it, of course. Perhaps the point of his comeback film is to launder reputations, hers and his. Melania does seem to enjoy surrounding herself with men battered by sexual misconduct allegations.

First lady? Ha! She avoids the White House when possible, preferring the vulgar luxury of Mar-a-Lago or her Trump Tower mansion in the sky. She sells access. She demands obscene appearance fees. She controls the narrative. And she wants you to pay to be lied to.

The truth is beneath that infamous inauguration hat, an ice-cold, supercilious highbrow who does not care about you, your life, your bills, or your struggles.

And frankly, she doesn’t care if you do her the favor of seeing her film. She already got what she wanted: nearly $30 million. The only people doing her favors are billionaires like Bezos, eager for tax breaks from her husband.

So don’t see it. Don’t reward it. Don’t talk about it, unless you’re dragging it online. For God’s sake, stay away.

John Casey was most recently Senior Editor, The Advocate, and is a freelance opinion and feature story writer. Previously, he was a Capitol Hill press secretary, and spent 25 years in media and public relations in NYC. He is the co-author of LOVE: The Heroic Stories of Marriage Equality (Rizzoli, 2025), named by Oprah in her "Best 25 of 2025.”

Melania's film crew member hopes for flop as insiders share behind-the-scenes tales

Members of the team behind the Melania Trump documentary are hoping the film bombs at the box office, according to a report.

Insiders have suggested the filming of the Brett Ratner-helmed documentary, "Melania," was chaos behind the scenes. Part of the problem was getting access to Melania and the Trump family, but some issues were caused by Ratner himself, according to Rolling Stone. The film director has not worked on a project since 2014's Hercules and was subject to a number of sexual assault and harassment allegations in 2017.

One insider, speaking to Rolling Stone, said, "People were worked really hard. Really long hours, highly disorganized, very chaotic."

Another added that the shoot "wasn't easy money. It was very difficult because of the chaos that was around everything. … Usually [for a documentary] it’s like, ‘Oh, follow the subject.’ Well, it’s Melania Trump. With the first lady and Secret Service, you can’t just do things you usually do."

Other members of the production team now regret putting their name on the documentary, with one person saying they are "much more alarmed now than I was a year ago."

Another source who spoke to Rolling Stone suggested almost two-thirds of the crew who worked on the film in New York had requested their name be pulled from the credits of the documentary.

A third anonymous source who worked on Melania said, "I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the propaganda element of this. But Brett Ratner was the worst part of working on this project."

Another source suggested they hope the film does not perform well. They said, “Unfortunately, if it does flop, I would really feel great about it.”

Amazon MGM Studios said they greenlit the project because it would be of interest to audiences. A spokesperson told Rolling Stone, "We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only - because we think customers are going to love it."

Amazon value plunged $3.9B in seconds after Karoline Leavitt attack

Amazon stocks fell by 2% Tuesday after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed the retail giant for a "hostile and political act" over President Donald Trump's tariffs, according to Forbes.

Two percent of Amazon's $1.97 trillion USD market capitalization comes out to a loss of $3.9 billion.

The White House was responding to a Punchbowl News report "citing an unnamed source with knowledge of the plan...to show how much of a good’s cost on the site comes from tariffs," Forbes reported.

Trump called Amazon owner Jeff Bezos directly to harp on the report, according to two White House officials who talked with CNN, adding the president was “pi----”

Soon after that call, "an Amazon spokesman released a statement clarifying the move wasn't considered for the main Amazon site but was considered for Amazon Haul." A revised statement asserted, "This was never approved and not going to happen.'"

Also read: 'Never so scared': Furious pastor berates cops after witnessing tasing of MTG constituent

Bezos endured a well-publicized feud with Trump during the president's first term over unflattering reporting in The Washington Post, which Bezos owns. As Trump prepared to take office for his second term, Bezos and other tech giant billionaires like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and SpaceX's Elon Musk got onboard with the Trump administration. All three attended Trump's inauguration, and Bezos donated $1 million.

Public reaction to transparent tariff pricing was positive at first, with comments like, "Every outlet should do this," from Philadelphia-based journalist Victoria Brownworth on X before news circulated that Amazon was backtracking. Bezos was then trashed on social media, with the likes of MSNBC's Elise Jordan quipping, "For about thirty seconds it seemed like Amazon cared more about customers than the White House but nope."

Forbes reported, "Amazon will report earnings for 2025’s first quarter Thursday afternoon. The company brought in $638 billion in revenue last year, trailing only Walmart as the highest company by sales in the world."

Read the Forbes article here.

Jeff Bezos reamed out by Trump in call minutes before Amazon debunked tariff report: CNN

CNN's Alayna Treene reported Tuesday that President Donald Trump called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purportedly to chew him out over reports that the company planned to reveal price increases due to the administration's imposed tariffs on its website.

"Trump called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos Tuesday morning to complain about reports that his company was considering displaying the cost U.S. tariffs next to prices for certain products on its website, two senior White House officials told @CNN."

In subsequent posts, Treene wrote, "The call came shortly after one of the senior officials phoned the president to inform him of the story The controversy comes as Trump & Bezos have grown increasingly close in recent months. Bezos often visits the West Wing when in Washington to meet with the president."

Treene continued, "Soon after the call between Trump & Bezos, an Amazon spokesman released a statement clarifying the move wasn't considered for the main Amazon site but was considered for Amazon Haul The spox later sent CNN a revised stmt, adding: 'This was never approved and not going to happen.'"

Also read: 'Never so scared': Furious pastor berates cops after witnessing tasing of MTG constituent

The situation began with reporting from Punchbowl News that was headlined, "Amazon to display tariff costs for consumers."

The White House responded in a Tuesday morning press briefing, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling Amazon's reported move as "a hostile and political act by Amazon."

CNN's Kaitlan Collins called Leavitt's comments "remarkable" and an "incredibly aggressive response."

"If I had told you this was the response from the White House eight years ago, you might not have been as surprised," Collins continued. "That was when the president was openly feuding with Jeff Bezos, was highly critical of The Washington Post and its coverage of him. But Jeff Bezos came to the president's inauguration. He was seated there among him. He has had dinner with him. He's been here at the White House since then. And, so, it is remarkable to to hear what the White House's response to that was."

The Washington Post's Jeff Stein then broke the news on X that "Amazon Spox now saying this was never under consideration for the main Amazon website. Says Amazon Haul has considered listing import price duties on certain products."

Bezos hasn't yet publicly commented on the controversy.

Amazon rushes to kill tariff story: 'Never under consideration'

After White House furor over reports that Amazon would be displaying price increases due to President Trump's tariffs, new reporting by The Washington Post claims the information isn't entirely true.

In a morning press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Amazon's move "a hostile and political act by Amazon."

But the Post's Jeff Stein posted on X shortly after, "Amazon Spox now saying this was never under consideration for the main Amazon website. Says Amazon Haul has considered listing import price duties on certain products."

Stein included Amazon's statement on the issue: “The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store has considered listing import charges on certain products. This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties.”

Amazon owner Jeff Bezos hasn't yet commented.

'Remarkable': CNN's Kaitlan Collins left in awe by 'aggressive' White House swipe

The White House's response to retail giant Amazon's plans to display price increases caused by President Donald Trump's tariffs drew robust commentary from CNN analysts Tuesday.

In a morning press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Amazon's move "a hostile and political act by Amazon."

"It was remarkable that Karoline Leavitt said she had just gotten off the phone with President Trump...and it was an incredibly aggressive response," CNN's Kaitlan Collins began. "The White House saying they believe that that is a hostile move by Amazon to do that and to list those prices and reflect basically what the impact of the president's tariffs are going to be."

Collins said that Trump's response was "all the more notable" because of his relationship with Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and The Washington Post.

Also read: 'Never so scared': Furious pastor berates cops after witnessing tasing of MTG constituent

Global economic analyst Rana Foroohar told CNN that the "powerful" transparency being offered by Amazon is "an amazing use of the incredible amounts of big data that these companies have."

She continued by agreeing that it was a "very political" move on Amazon's part.

"The White House "called it a hostile and political act, which did sound very threatening in terms of what the president was channeling to Jeff Bezos there," Foroohar said.

"I think it's also very interesting in terms of where big tech and where some of the largest and most powerful CEOs in the country stand in relation to Trump, and I was wondering when this penny was going to drop. Because, yes, you saw, as Kaitlan said, them all sitting in the front row at the inauguration, it was the sort of parade of American oligarchs. On the other hand, boy, have their businesses been hit by liberation day.

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'I’m the reincarnation': Book claims Musk thought himself reborn 'spirit' of ancient king

When Elon Musk was a 20-something entrepreneur pushing his first startup, he claimed to a potential investor that he couldn't possibly fail at business because he was the reincarnation of one of the greatest warriors in all of human history, according to a new book.

Washington Post reporter Faiz Siddiqui recounted the exchange between Musk and venture capitalist Derek Proudian in "Hubris Maximus," out this week.

Musk reportedly told the investor that his fledgling company, Zip2, which promised to put the Yellow Pages online, was “going to be the biggest company ever.”

When Proudian tried to change the subject, Musk retorted, “No—you don’t understand. I’m the reincarnation of the spirit of Alexander the Great," the book said.

ALSO READ: 'We’ve made a mistake': Trump’s trade war sends GOP into frenzy

Proudian, who "brushed off Musk's words" in the 1990s, is now worried after seeing what Musk has become, The Daily Beast reported.

“I am really concerned because I know how smart this guy is and I know how much money he has and I know how ruthless he is, and it’s playing out in front of my own eyes,” Proudian said.

In another example of Musk's "arrogance," a former Tesla investor told Siddiqui that "Musk cannot stand being told what to do—even by the Securities and Exchange Commission," adding, “He just basically has a complete disdain for any authority period."

A former Tesla software engineer is quoted as saying, "We saw with definitive proof his true colors,” over subjects like racial justice during the George Floyd protests. “I don’t know if he doesn’t want to empathize or if he feels he’s just too busy to empathize.”

The Daily Beast article stated that Siddiqui "has long covered Musk’s antics at Tesla and Twitter for the Post," and that when asked for comment, Musk would often quip, “Give my regards to your puppetmaster,” referring to fellow multibillionaire Jeff Bezos.

Musk did not comment for the Daily Beast article, according to its author.

Read the Daily Beast article here.

'Something snapped': Nixed multi-billion dollar contract reportedly made Bezos Trump's man

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and owner of The Washington Post, has perplexed D.C. insiders with his dramatic transformation from civic-minded entrepreneur to MAGA faithful, according to a new piece in Politico.

Bezos was famously pictured alongside fellow tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk at Trump's second-term inauguration, cementing what Politico columnist Michael Schaffer wrote was an image that looked "more self-serving than selfless."

"The man who once praised democracy’s guardrails has begun to look like he’s just another rich guy trying to curry favor with a transactional president," Schaffer wrote.

He quoted one Washington observer who said of Bezos, “People say it’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Something snapped with him.”

Schaffer recounted how Bezos once refused to get involved with editorial decisions at The Post, before changing his tune completely.

ALSO READ: 'Promoted our tormenter': MAGA fans vent disgust at Trump official's latest move

"Even after Joe Biden became president and Bezos felt moved to criticize him about taxes, he did so on his personal social media, leaving the pages of the newspaper to professional journalists," Schaffer wrote, quoting a 2018 interview where Bezos maintained, “I would be humiliated to interfere. I would be so embarrassed. I would turn bright red. It would feel icky; it would feel gross.”

But all that changed when Bezos "overruled his editors to kill a long-planned endorsement of Kamala Harris and ditch the Post’s tradition of bipartisan opinions."

Schaffer traced Bezos's metamorphosis to a multibillion-dollar Pentagon contract Amazon lost to Microsoft, ostensibly because "Trump didn’t like the Post’s coverage."

"The whiplash has caused chaos at the Post, which has seen an exodus of top talent and come under sharp criticism from onetime loyalists like former editor Martin Baron, whose memoir depicted Bezos as standing steadfast in the face of very real financial pressure from the first Trump administration," Schaffer wrote, adding that Baron has since accused Bezos "of being driven by cowardice in the face of White House intimidation."

According to Schaffer, Bezos did not offer a comment for the piece.

Read the Politico story here.

Deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado higher than in Amazon: report

Deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado region, a vast tropical savanna renowned for its rich biodiversity, increased sharply in 2023 and overtook that of the Amazon, according to a report published Tuesday.

In the Cerrado, which extends through central Brazil and into neighboring Paraguay and Bolivia, more than 1.11 million hectares (2.74 million acres) were destroyed in 2023, an increase of 68 percent compared to the previous year, said the report by research group MapBiomas.

These losses represent almost two thirds of the deforestation suffered by all of Brazil and about 2.4 times the destruction recorded in the Amazon, the report said.

Last year 454,300 hectares were deforested in the Amazon, 62.2 percent less than in 2022.

This is the first time that deforestation in the Cerrado has been higher than that in the Amazon since MapBiomas began compiling data in 2019 from various satellite mapping systems.

Less famous than the Amazon rainforest to the north, the Cerrado is one of Earth's three great savannas, along with Africa's and Australia's, and covers a region the size of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain combined.

"The face of deforestation is changing in Brazil, concentrating in biomes dominated by savannas and grasslands, and decreasing in jungle areas," said MapBiomas coordinator Tasso Azevedo.

But in all cases, "almost all deforestation in the country (97 percent) is driven by agricultural expansion," stressed MapBiomas, a collective of NGOs and Brazilian universities.

More than 93 percent of the destruction "presented at least one indication of illegality" or irregularity, according to data from the Amazon Environmental Research Institute.

More generally, deforestation in Brazil decreased in 2023 for the first time in four years, a drop of 11.6 percent compared to the previous year.

The report is bittersweet news for left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who presents himself as a champion of the fight against climate change and has pledged to eradicate illegal deforestation in Brazil by 2030, which had dramatically worsened under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

The loss of native vegetation in the immense South American country has increasingly evident consequences, such as the historic floods which hit the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul earlier this month, killing at least 170 people and forcing around 600,000 people to leave their homes.