Andrew Fishman is an investigative journalist based in Rio de Janeiro and the president of The Intercept Brasil.
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Fishman → base → Intercept
“I never thought about leaving the country,” Flávio Bolsonaro, a Brazilian senator and son of the deposed, disgraced leader, told his 16 million Instagram followers on Monday.
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Bolsonaro → think → Monday
It was the day after he lost the presidential election to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by a margin of more than 4 million votes.
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he → lose → votes
Flávio promised to stay in Brazil to “organize the opposition” during Lula’s next term.
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Flávio → promise → term
“I’m the last obstacle to the Workers’ Party’s plan to destroy the country,” Flávio warned, referring to the party of Lula, who defeated his father four years earlier.
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who → ’m → father
A few hours later, he left his mansion in Brasilia and sought asylum in the U.S. The Trump State Department told the Associated Press that it will grant him and his family visas.
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it → leave → visas
“I didn’t take sides, but it looked like another rigged election,” President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday, echoing Flávio’s election night talking points without providing any credible evidence that casts doubt on Lula’s come-from-behind victory — even as Flávio’s own party put out a statement acknowledging the results later that day.
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party → take → results
Both wrap themselves in the rhetoric of patriotism and moral righteousness, while treating their political offices as personal get-rich-quick schemes.
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Both → wrap → schemes
And, when their lies finally catch up with them, you can be sure that they will jump ship to save themselves first and abandon their followers.
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they → catch → followers
The affinities become obvious when you watch Bolsonaro, his failsons, and co-conspirators all end up in Trump’s America, where Flávio is about to join his brother, and in the denialism and violence that follow their failures.
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that → become → failures
Coups and Flight Risks
Flávio Bolsonaro’s election denial and hasty escape are his version of Trump’s infamous January 6 speech: Rile up the troops to do your dirty work and get the hell out of the way.
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denial → rile → way
It’s not the first time a Bolsonaro ran this playbook.
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Bolsonaro → ’ → playbook
After Jair Bolsonaro became the first modern Brazilian president to lose a reelection bid, he refused to attend the January 2023 inauguration ceremony.
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he → become → ceremony
Instead, he also fled to the U.S., staying in a Minions-themed children’s bedroom in the Orlando, Florida, home of retired UFC fighter José Aldo.
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he → flee → Aldo
A week later, on January 8, the ex-president’s allies laid siege to the capital, Brasília, vandalizing Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court, as foot soldiers in a larger coup plot to overthrow the Lula government.
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allies → lay → government
Nearly four decades of Brazilian democracy was only spared when key military leaders blinked before they could finish the job.
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they → spar → job
Jair Bolsonaro eventually returned to Brazil and was sentenced to 27 years in prison for leading the plot, which included a plan to assassinate Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
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which → return → Lula
Allies, including top military brass, were also convicted.
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Allies → include → brass
Jair remains under house arrest — widely thought to be pinning his hopes for freedom on a Flávio presidency that wasn’t to be.
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that → remain → presidency
His brother, former Brazilian Congress member Eduardo Bolsonaro, just received green cards for his family and is living in a $1.2 million McMansion in Southlake, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as we revealed in The Intercept Brasil earlier this year.
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we → receive → Brasil
Eduardo, who is a regular on the Trumpworld circuit, was sentenced in absentia to four years and two months in prison for lobbying the U.S. government to interfere in his father’s trial.
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who → sentence → trial
Flávio, too, seems poised to receive news of his own prison sentence while sitting on a couch in a Texas suburb.
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Flávio → seem → suburb
In May, our reporting at The Intercept Brasil put the first nail in the coffin of his presidential campaign when we published chat logs and audio recordings of the senator negotiating $24 million — and being wired $10 million — from disgraced billionaire banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is a sort of Brazilian cross between Charles Ponzi and Jeffrey Epstein.
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who → put → Ponzi
The payments, wired to a U.S. account, were supposedly meant to finance “Dark Horse,” a biopic about Jair Bolsonaro starring Jim Caviezel.
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payments → wire → Caviezel
Brazilian Federal Police, though, have already poked holes in Flávio’s story as they investigate whether the money was actually used to bankroll Eduardo’s treasonous lobbying of the Trump administration to sanction Brazil and help his brother’s electoral chances.
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money → poke → chances
Flávio is also being investigated for his alleged ties to a billion-dollar money-laundering scheme through an online betting company run by Willer Tomaz.
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Flávio → investigate → Tomaz
Flávio even had unfettered access to one of Tomaz’s offshore bank accounts.
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Flávio → have → accounts
You will not be surprised to learn that Tomaz left Brazil in August and is now living in Miami.
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Tomaz → learn → Miami
Police argued that, after losing the election, Flávio would pose a flight risk, especially in light of his closest associates’ recent actions.
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Flávio → argue → actions
They asked the Brazilian Supreme Court to order Flávio to turn over his passport, which is permitted under Brazilian law.
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which → ask → law
A top justice granted the request and, when the deadline passed, canceled the senator’s travel documents.
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deadline → grant → documents
By then, Flávio was already gone.
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Flávio → go → ?
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
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WE → ’ → ?
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
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seeing → see → government
Court orders are being ignored.
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orders → ignore → ?
MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies.
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loyalists → put → military
The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse.
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Department → strip → purse
News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
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that → challenge → investigation
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
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many → cover → power
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world.
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Intercept → cover → world
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
