A gesture in support of US President Donald Trump exposed on Thursday (17) cracks within the opposition to the Lula administration in Congress. During a press release in the House of Representatives, Deputy Delegate Skull (PL-PA) and the slogan “Make America Great Again”. The gesture, made in front of journalists, caused discomfort among pocket parliamentarians and ended with a public apology of the deputy to the bench.
The demonstration occurred shortly after allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to try to hold meetings in the public security and foreign relations commissions to vote motions of praise to the former Mandanker.
The sessions were scheduled for 10am, but Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), who suspended activities until the end of informal recess on August 1.
In front of the press, opposition parliamentarians improvised a collective. It was at this moment that Delegate Skull exhibited the Pro-Trump flag. The exhibition generated immediate discomfort between the allies themselves, who asked him to keep the track. “It was not the appropriate place,” said Deputy Paulo Bilynskyj (PL-SP), chairman of the Public Security Commission. “The focus of the meeting was another.”
Government sees opportunism
The display of the flag occurs as the Lula government tries to consolidate the narrative that the 50% tariff imposed by Trump has a direct relationship with the alliance between the former president and pockets. Trump’s letter to President Lula, in which he communicates the measure, explicitly mentions Jair Bolsonaro’s trial for coup attempt as one of the factors for the tariff application.
Planalto Allies have used the letter as proof of political interference in Brazil’s internal affairs and reinforced the argument that US attacks on national sovereignty are linked to Bolsonaro’s support to Trump.
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The demonstration of PL parliamentarians in defense of the former American president reinforces this narrative-and generates embarrassment among those who want to maintain the debate in a more economical or institutional tone.
Internal divisions
The episode reveals the difficulty of the opposition to build a unified position in the face of the commercial crisis with the US. While more ideological sectors advocate direct confrontation in defense of Trump, other wings – such as the one that organizes the diplomatic mission to the US Congress – seek to preserve the image of parliament and avoid new wear and tear with the Trump government and the Brazilian productive sector.
In the background, the tension remains increasing: the 50% rate comes into force on August 1 and already pressures strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy.
