The announcement by the governor of , , that he will visit the former president next week was the outcome of a sequence of incidents that fueled heated discussions among Bolsonarists.
Tarcísio once again reaffirmed, for the second time in two weeks, that he does not want to run for President in place of (), nominated by the former president for the position. He had suffered a series of criticisms in recent days for missing a visit that had been scheduled for Thursday (22). The governor decided to cancel the meeting, citing commitments in São Paulo, but, on his official agenda, only the item “internal dispatches” appeared. In the afternoon, at the secretariat, changing the state Civil House.
The decision not to visit Bolsonaro on the scheduled date was analyzed by allies as an attempt to impose a limit on the former president’s children.
An assistant to Tarcísio said that the governor had been accumulating wear and tear with Flávio and attributed the senator’s assistants to creating rumors related to a possible presidential campaign — which he denies — and even rumors that he plans to leave politics.
Throughout this Thursday (22), while Bolsonarists criticized Tarcísio for canceling the meeting with the former president in prison, part of the group acted to calm tempers.
“Tarcísio de Freitas is an important, strong and loyal ally. I know him personally and I can say without hesitation: he is a good man, committed to the national project led by Jair Bolsonaro”, wrote on social media Adolfo Sachsida, Bolsonaro’s former secretary of Economic Policy who has helped Flávio seek allies in the financial market.
As shown by SheetTarcísio canceled the visit after being angered by the former president’s son’s statement that the meeting was for the governor to hear that his presidential candidacy was “ruled out”. The senator launched himself at Planalto in December with the support of his father.
The meeting with Bolsonaro (29), and Tarcísio wrote on social media that he is “grateful and loyal” to the former president.
Among the former president’s more radical supporters, Tarcísio’s attitude of postponing the visit and spending the day at Palácio dos Bandeirantes was seen as an affront, which ended up highlighting the tension between the Bolsonaro clan and the governor.
In this group, the reading also gained strength that Tarcísio, contrary to what he says publicly, is not working for re-election but rather to contest the Palácio do Planalto. The assessment is that, therefore, he would have avoided the conversation with the former president, who could demand a clearer commitment to Flávio’s candidacy.
The governor’s interlocutors deny this version. They claim that the cancellation of the visit does not affect the plan to run for re-election and that Tarcísio is not making any moves to make a presidential candidacy viable.
A close ally said that the governor and the former first lady spoke by phone on Wednesday night (21), when Tarcísio stated that there was a scheduling issue and that it would be necessary to change the date of the visit.
Those who defend Flávio’s name claim that Tarcísio sent the message that he would not accept pressure and wanted to avoid the embarrassment of being asked by the former president to campaign for his son. As a result, it has been classified as proud.
Bolsonaro deputies, however, received the message to hold back on criticizing the governor, following Flávio’s guidance to seek the union of right-wing names.
The dispute on the right has intensified in recent days between defenders of Flávio being the presidential candidate in the field, as Bolsonaro indicated, and those who maintain their preference for Tarcísio’s presidential candidacy. The episode of the former president’s transfer to Papudinha, last week, and the articulation around a possible house arrest boosted the Tarcísio-Michelle duo to the detriment of Bolsonaro’s children.
In a video published on Wednesday (21), the impeached deputy (PL-SP) spoke about an alleged attempt to overturn his brother’s candidacy.
“Flávio’s campaign is in full swing and will not be overturned. If this were to happen, what feeling would you have in your heart? That people worked to blackmail Bolsonaro and, in a spurious, unscrupulous, dirty and vile deal, they were successful,” he said.
Tarcísio’s allies and assistants, on the other hand, minimize the gesture of distancing from the governor, who, since the election in 2022, has maintained a dubious position in relation to Bolsonarism and sought a certain independence.
They do not hide that there was a message from Tarcísio, but they claim that he only sought to react to attacks he has received and to show that he will not accept being tutored or pressured, that he has his own voice and space as governor of São Paulo.
An interlocutor of the governor says that he managed to communicate that this is not a divergence in relation to Bolsonaro, for whom he said he has solidarity and gratitude, but rather an action to avoid an ambush by the former president’s children.
Still according to these allies, Tarcísio’s attitude was correct and should not generate electoral losses, while Flávio’s entourage believes that the governor could, in fact, lose votes by distancing himself from the former president.
