WASHINGTON (AFP): Brazil’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro believes incoming US leader Donald Trump’s return will boost his own comeback ambitions, despite being banned from seeking office until 2030 and investigated for allegedly plotting a coup.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Bolsonaro, 69, is banking on Trump pressuring Brazilian judges to delay enforcing the ban, which he earned for baselessly trashing Brazil’s voting system ahead of his 2022 defeat.
“Trump is back, and it’s a sign we’ll be back too,” Bolsonaro told the newspaper in an interview from his party headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, confirming that he planned to run again in 2026.
Trump’s office did not respond immediately to a request for comment but the Journal reported that Bolsonaro and Trump had been in close contact since the US election in early November.
“I was up the whole night rooting for the big orange guy,” Bolsonaro said, using a Portuguese term of affection for Trump, “Laranjao.”
Bolsonaro — a hard-right populist widely dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” during his 2019-2023 term — has remained politically active since leaving office, recently campaigning for the right-wing Liberal Party ahead of October municipal elections.
Like Trump, Bolsonaro claims his legal issues amount to political persecution.
Brazilian police have accused him of participating in a 2022 plot to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office, and of being aware of an alleged plan to assassinate the incumbent.
He is accused alongside 36 other people named as co-conspirators in a police report made public this week. Brazil’s attorney general is examining the allegations to see if the evidence supports criminal charges.
The document details alleged collusion between Bolsonaro and some of his officials, including members of his military brass, to claim fraud in Lula’s victory and to use decrees to sideline the Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro — whose supporters violently attacked government buildings in 2023, echoing the assault by a pro-Trump mob on the US Capitol in 2021 — has denied the coup allegation and says he is the victim of “persecution.”
“It’s time for MAAGA — Make All Americas Great Again,” said Bolsonaro, making a play on Trump’s signature MAGA slogan, according to the Journal.
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