After exchanging public criticism with deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) in recent weeks, deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) once again raised his tone against the children of former president Jair Bolsonaro and called councilor Jair Renan Bolsonaro (PL) a “blind mole” amid a new exchange of attacks on social media.
The exchange of barbs began after the Bolsonaro influencer Junior Japa, followed by Carlos Bolsonaro, mocked Nikolas for a video in which he appears promoting actions in Minas Gerais with a white t-shirt, different from the black one that marked his opposition content to the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government. In the publication, he suggested that the deputy had “felt” criticism and insinuated that he was exchanging political support for amendments, in addition to not engaging in the pre-presidential campaign of senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ).
Nikolas reacted by stating that he would send an “amendment to commit” the critics to a mental institution. After an ironic response from Jair Renan — who used a meme to insinuate that the deputy had been upset —, the parliamentarian published a print of the conversation and wrote that, “if you combine the cognitive capacity of this duo”, in reference to the councilor and the influencer, “it does not reach that of a blind mole”.
The episode is another chapter in the tension between Nikolas and those around the Bolsonaro family, which dates back to the beginning of Flávio Bolsonaro’s pre-campaign. In recent weeks, Eduardo Bolsonaro began to publicly criticize him for his lack of direct engagement in the campaign and for using his algorithm against the family.
The discomfort grew after allies began monitoring the deputy’s networks and pointed out that he rarely mentions Flávio’s name. The assessment in this group is that Nikolas avoids attaching his image to the candidacy so as not to share protagonism within the right.
On the deputy’s side, the reading is different. He has said that his strategy is to speak beyond the Bolsonarist base and not just reinforce those who are already convinced. In an interview with GLOBO, he stated that he suffers “unilateral attacks” and criticized allies who, according to him, “think they are more Bolsonaro than Bolsonaro himself”.
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— I never started any fights. The question that needs to be asked is: what have I already done? Because one fight is two. This isn’t a fight, it’s a one-sided attack. Which post of mine do I have attacking my son, wife or Bolsonaro himself? On the contrary, I am extremely loyal to the ideas that Bolsonaro carries. He himself, the last time we met, said: “Rest at peace, I am with you”. But unfortunately there are some who think they are more Bolsonaro than Bolsonaro himself.
He also said that there are people who have become “experts in alienating people” and argued that everyone has a role in the campaign. According to him, his is an “attacker”, trying to expand the reach of the speech, while others focus more on mobilizing the base.
