The pre-campaign for the re-election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been monitoring the possibility of a meeting between Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) and the President of the United States, Donald Trump. The senator embarked on Sunday night to try to reach an agenda with the American amid the strain caused by the crisis involving the exchange of messages with banker Daniel Vorcaro. The attempt at a conversation with the Republican comes three weeks after Lula was received by Trump at the White House, in a meeting that lasted three hours.
For the PT pre-campaign, Flávio’s objective in a meeting with Trump is still unpredictable. The group’s members, however, claim that a more expected calculation from the senator is to try to divert the focus from his relationship with Vorcaro. Audios revealed two weeks ago show the senator asking the banker for money to finance a film about his father, Jair Bolsonaro. Afterwards, a visit by Flávio to Vorcaro also came to light, when the banker was already under house arrest in São Paulo.
In the scenarios predicted by Lula’s allies, the hypothesis of Trump declaring support for Flávio is seen as positive for the PT campaign, as surveys indicate the American president’s unpopularity in Brazil — the most recent Quaest survey shows that 48% of voters have a negative image of the USA. Lula, for example, did not stop criticizing Trump even though he had strengthened his relationship with the head of the White House.
The possibility of the American leader announcing some measure against Brazil would be even better politically for Lula, which would reinforce the discourse of sovereignty adopted by the government and give the president the argument that his main adversary is working against the country. If Flavio is not received by Trump, in turn, the lack of prestige of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s son would be exploited.
Lula’s ministers who attended the president’s meeting with Trump at the White House say that the Bolsonaro family was not discussed during the agenda. Since the meeting in Washington, Lula’s aides have been in contact with their counterparts in the American government, and one of the topics is the discussion of tariffs imposed by the United States on Brazilian products.
