Trump Tries to Shape Brazil's 2026 Vote as 200 Million-Plus Nation Recasts Him in Old Feud
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20
Trump Tries to Shape Brazil's 2026 Vote as 200 Million-Plus Nation Recasts Him in Old Feud
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 20
Summary
Brazil’s October presidential race is absorbing Donald Trump less as a decisive outside force than as fresh ammunition in a long-running nationalist clash between the Lula and Bolsonaro camps.
Flávio Bolsonaro has openly linked a possible Bolsonaro return to “Trump 2.0,” and Trump has encouraged that alignment, including by sharing a June post calling Brazil’s election the next major test of his movement in the Americas.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s side casts the Bolsonaro camp as subservient to Washington, while Bolsonaro allies accuse Lula’s government of yielding to crime and an international left—each arguing the other is betraying Brazil’s sovereignty.
That fight taps a much older Brazilian debate over why a country of more than 200 million people, vast resources and the world’s sixth-largest territory has fallen short of its promise, making nationalism the enduring language of its politics.