Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro announced earlier this week that the country would forgo the landmark UN migration treaty signed last week in Morocco by representatives from 164 governments. Bolsonaro has said that once his term begins in January, Brazil will withdraw from the agreement, which provides protection for refugees and safeguards legal migration. “Considering the statesman hasn’t even begun his term yet, these promises might turn out to be just rhetoric,” says Richard Lapper, associate fellow for the US and Americas at Chatham House, a London-based think-tank. “Bolsonaro’s other Trump-appeasing wishes, such as moving the Brazilian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and pulling out of the Paris climate-change agreement, might harm Brazil’s trade relationships – but they could bolster his hold on far-right supporters within the country,” he says.

Donald Trump’s recent meetings with rapper Kanye West and the rapper’s wife Kim Kardashian may seem like the actions of a politician courting public approval – but there’s another rumour swirling around Washington. “It’s widely understood that [before the election] the president was already preparing to launch what he would call TNN, the Trump News Network,” says Pippa Malmgren, an American policy analyst and former special assistant to president George W Bush. “The Clintons and the Obamas alike have tried to convert the Oval Office experience into becoming global brands.” The idea of a Trump-owned media platform might not be so far-fetched, given how much time the president spends watching (and no doubt being inspired by) outlets such as Fox News. Malmgren finishes with a warning: “Underestimating [Trump’s] objectives is not wise, however you feel about him emotionally.”