Bolsonaro floats Trump pressure campaign on Brazil in comeback push

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called on President-elect Trump to help him in his bid to return to power, suggesting Trump in his second term levy economic sanctions on the South American country.

“Trump is back, and it’s a sign we’ll be back too,” Bolsonaro told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday.

Bolsonaro has been banned from seeking reelection in 2026, a punishment issued by the country’s courts in response to an attempted coup allegedly staged by Bolsonaro and several dozen others following his 2022 electoral loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Thousands of Bolsonaro's supporters stormed Brazil's presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court on Jan. 8, 2023, a week after da Silva was inaugurated.

Bolsonaro, known in local media as the "Trump of the Tropics," told the Journal he aims to overcome his own legal battles through another presidential campaign.

“As long as the electoral court doesn’t turn down my registration, it’s valid,” Bolsonaro said. “They can just put it off as long as possible … until the election is over.”

The former Brazilian leader, who was a close ally of Trump's on the world stage during his first term, reportedly floated the idea of Trump using economic sanctions against da Silva. He pointed to Washington's "maximum pressure" campaign put on Venezuelan authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro, which ultimately failed, when discussing the idea.

“Trump has also been very concerned about Venezuela and discussed with me ways in which we can return it to democracy,” Bolsonaro told the Journal.

Police revoked Bolsonaro's passport earlier this year, but he's continued his outreach to Trump. Eduardo Bolsonaro, his son who is also a Brazilian politician, visited Mar-a-Lago on election night to cheer Trump's successful White House bid.

“I’m not obsessed with power; it’s actually rather tiring at my age,” Jair Bolsonaro told the Journal. “There are also people more intelligent than me … but no one has thicker skin, nor the experience I have.”

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