Brazil ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro rallies supporters in Sao Paulo to protest his Supreme Court trial
Updated 3:31 PM CDT, June 29, 2025
SAO PAULO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday attended a public demonstration in Sao Paulo to protest against his ongoing Supreme Court trial in the South American country.
A couple of thousand people gathered on Paulista Avenue, one of the city’s main locations, in a demonstration that Bolsonaro, before the event, called “an act for freedom, for justice.”
Bolsonaro and 33 allies are facing trial over an alleged plot to overturn the 2022 presidential election results and remain in power. They were charged with five counts related to the plan.
The former president has denied the allegations and claims that he’s the target of political persecution. He could face up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
“Bolsonaro, come back!” protesters chanted, but the former president is barred from running for office until 2030. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court ruled last year that he abused his political power and made baseless claims about the country’s electronic voting system.
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-protest-trial-sao-paulo-900ed075e592a94fa38337e4e1eb586d
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Andre Pagliarini
/
March 19, 2025
Coup Plea
This Expat Politician Actually Wants Trump to Meddle in His Country
Brazil’s Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of embattled former President Jair, announced he’s taking a leave from Congress to press his father’s case full-time to MAGA allies in the United States.
x.com/BolsonaroSP
Donald Trump Jr. and Eduardo Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago on election night in 2024
MAGA Americans weren’t the only ones pinning their hopes on Donald Trump’s election last year. Leading right-wing reactionaries around the world believed that his return to power would buoy their own fortunes, as well—and perhaps none felt this as strongly as Brazil’s Bolsonaro family. After Trump’s victory, Jair Bolsonaro, the embattled former president, hailed “the triumph of the people’s will over the arrogant designs of an elite who disdain our values, beliefs, and traditions,” adding that “its impact will resonate across the globe … empowering the rise of the right and conservative movements in countless other nations.” But with Bolsonaro in deep legal trouble and deemed a flight risk by the authorities, it was his son Eduardo who got a front-row seat to that “triumph”: The Brazilian congressman was at Mar-a-Lago on election night, celebrating with the Trump family.
It’s no secret what Eduardo wants from Trump. His father, whose 2018 election stunned the political establishment, is barred from seeking any elected office until 2030 for using government channels to sow distrust in the country’s voting system. Worse, he could soon be facing a lengthy prison sentence for his role in plotting a conspiracy to violently overrule the results of the 2022 election, which he lost to the left-wing elder statesman Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Increasingly desperate as the walls close in, Bolsonaro and his allies haven’t been subtle: They want Trump to directly intercede on their behalf. The day after Trump’s election, Eduardo tweeted a list of grievances that his dad and Trump share (“defamed,” “attempted assassination,” “indicted”) and concluded: “2024: Trump elected. 2026: Bolsonaro (loading…).”
Trump’s personal involvement is unlikely but hardly impossible. He has been friendly with Bolsonaro, but has said almost nothing about Brazil since taking office. Now, however, the former president’s 40-year-old son is taking a big step to try to rekindle the bond between his father and Trump. On Tuesday, Eduardo stunned his supporters and Brazilian political observers by announcing that he’s taking an indefinite unpaid leave from office to remain in the United States, where he’s been since late February, to plead his dad’s case full-time. He is well positioned to make such entreaties. Since his father’s election, Eduardo has become a fixture of the MAGA political-industrial complex. He has appeared regularly at CPAC, spoken several times with Tucker Carlson, cavorted with Steve Bannon and Mike Lindell, and hobnobbed at Mar-a-Lago—including with Trump himself. All along, he has spread self-serving fictions about Brazil’s political situation to an uninformed MAGA base.
There is a real affinity for the Trumps among the Bolsonaros, but the stakes of Eduardo’s efforts are not just personal. A week after Lula’s inauguration on January 1, 2023, Bolsonaro supporters staged a riot in Brasília, the Brazilian capital, a destructive green-and-yellow reprise of the January 6, 2021, insurrection carried out by Trump die-hards. Authorities acted swiftly, arresting almost 1,500 people on the spot. Bolsonaro and his allies have since decried the unflinching institutional response as authoritarian. They insist that Brazil is no longer a democracy and that Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who has boldly confronted myriad extremist threats to the constitutional order, is a tyrant. (Moraes also faced down Elon Musk last year, forcing X to comply with Brazilian laws. In response, Musk called him “an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.”) Eduardo is hoping to leverage hostility toward Moraes in Brazil and beyond, including among influential MAGA figures, to absolve his father. He is, in short, actively soliciting foreign interference in his country’s internal affairs.
More:
https://newrepublic.com/article/192895/eduardo-bolsonaro-trump-interfere-brazil
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Bolsonaro decamps to Florida
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro (left of former president Trump) will find it easy to fit into Florida’s right wing political ecosystem, says MHC’s Andy Reiter. [Photo credit: Office of Senior Advisor Ivanka Trump, Public domain, via Wikimedia]
Written By
Keely Sexton
Published
January 09, 2023
The former Brazilian president will find a home in the sunshine state’s “right-wing ecosystem,” says Mount Holyoke Professor Andy Reiter.
When former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was defeated in his reelection bid, he left his home country behind and headed for a new home — in Florida. There, he was greeted by masses of adoring expats and ardent supporters, according to an Associated Press article.
Andrew Reiter, associate professor of politics and international relations, told the outlet that Bolsonaro will find it easy to insert himself into the political culture of Florida.
“He will make himself right at home in Florida’s right-wing ecosystem of grifting and podcasting, finding allies with whoever thinks they can use him to advance their far-right agenda,” he said.
More:
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/news/news-stories/bolsonaro-decamps-florida
