Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro fades from the spotlight

By Eléonore Hughes | The Associated Press

Brazil’s top electoral court ruled last month that Bolsonaro is ineligible to run for any political office until 2030 for abusing his power and casting unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

Bolsonaro was once called the “Trump of the Tropics” after emerging as a crusading outsider promising to shake up the system and pursuing an aggressive brand of identity politics including conservative values. Trump, who also cast doubt on the US electoral system and faces legal trouble, remains the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s nomination.

A clear demonstration of Bolsonaro’s waning power was a tax reform vote in Congress’ lower house this month.

A proposal supported by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government to overhaul Brazil’s notoriously complicated tax system was also backed by lawmakers and the general public. Bolsonaro tried to marshal opposition—his first attempt at doing so—but the reform passed by a greater than 3-to-1 margin. Almost two-dozen members of Bolsonaro’s party defied his will.

Bolsonaro has “little to no influence as a potential opposition leader,” political analyst Leandro Loyola wrote after the vote.

A political cartoon in Brazil this month showed a scientist peering into a microscope at an irate, fistclenching Bolsonaro.

“Fascinating,” the caption read. “He keeps diminishing.”

Construction executive Alexandre Cohim donated to Bolsonaro’s re-election campaign but said Friday that the court making the former president ineligible was a “blessing.”

“It will allow other people from the right who are more capable to emerge,” Cohim, 60, said by phone from Salvador. After he lost the race by the narrowest margin since Brazil’s return to democracy over three decades ago, the presumption of many in his party was that Bolsonaro would lead fierce opposition against Lula.

But just before Lula’s inauguration on January 1, Bolsonaro decamped to Florida for an extended stay. He returned in March and now he may even lose the monthly salary he receives from his party, reported by local media to be around $8,500. His allies have already called on supporters to help the former president pay his bills, while a newly founded Bolsonaro Store hawks everything from Bolsonaro-themed wall calendars to party decorations.

The threat of jail time also looms amid multiple criminal investigations into the former president’s