Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-victory-shot-arm-brazils-right-wing-politics-2024-11-07/
Donald Trump’s presidential victory in the US has established new energy into Brazil’s heavily conservative political group and brought about hopes that former President Jair Bolsonaro can copy Trump’s return to power. Bolsonaro is currently facing legal obstacles including attacks on Brazil’s voting system in the prior presidential race which ruled him ineligible for public office until 2030. Bolsonaro’s backers are heavily pushing that the court grant pardon to the former president when it comes to his counts of offenses. When he was elected in 2018, Bolsonaro was dubbed the nickname, “Trump of the Tropics”. He believes that Trump’s victory has greatly improved his chances of returning to the presidency in the 2026 elections. Many Brazilian officials have deemed Trump’s victory as part of a global trend including which is also shown in the election of right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as president of Argentina as well as Brazil’s fairly recent municipal elections confirming a more conservative electorate.
Bolsonaro’s son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, has been wearing a “Bolsonaro 2026” shirt to the polls in the last month as he along with other Bolsonaro supporters push to restore the eligibility of Bolsonaro in the 2026 election. Leonardo Barreto, a Brazilian political consultant, has stated that the conservative victory in the United States may cause far right Brazilians to resist moderating their views because, “Trump didn’t and he still got elected again.” In total, Bolsonaro has been formally accused of tampering with Covid-19 cards, embezzling jewelry, and misusing public media to spread unfounded claims about the country’s electronic voting system. He is also being investigated for his alleged role in a coup plot after losing his 2022 re-election bid. Costa Neto, head of Bolsonaro’s right-wing Liberal Party (PL), hopes an amnesty bill in Congress affecting over 1,500 people still in jail for the January 8, 2023 uprising in Brazil will include Bolsonaro, ultimately allowing him to run for president again in 2026. However, political consultant, Lucas de Aragao, has said that there is no reason to think that congress will budge on Bolsonaro’s ineligibility.
This event has shown how much a political event in one country can impact the future politics of another country. It also adds to the trend of conservative candidates being voted into high power positions across the globe. It has been shown that the behaviors of a political party’s followers in one country can persuade and impact the followers of the same party but in another country based on whether that party comes out victorious or not.