As Brazil's Supreme Court prepares to deliver a verdict in the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, his supporters are increasingly turning to US President Donald Trump for salvation. Bolsonaro faces up to 43 years in prison for allegedly orchestrating a coup plot after losing the 2022 election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Many devotees believe only Trump can prevent a conviction.
Edite Costa, a 66-year-old Baptist and fervent Bolsonaro supporter, prays daily under a mango tree in Brasília. 'I ask God to work so that not just Trump but all Americans come to help us rip out the evil that has taken hold of the country I love,' she said. Costa waves an American flag at rallies and believes God has chosen Trump as a liberator for Brazil.
The trial's outcome is widely seen as a foregone conclusion. Patrícia de Carvalho, a pro-Bolsonaro businesswoman, said: 'We're almost certain the sentence has already been written [and] Bolsonaro will be jailed.' Leftwing congressman Guilherme Boulos, a Lula ally, agreed, citing a 300-page prosecutor's report with 'extremely robust' evidence, including a plot to assassinate Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes printed in Bolsonaro's palace.
Trump has responded to calls for intervention by imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports, stripping eight Supreme Court judges of US visas, and sanctioning Moraes, accusing him of turning Brazil into 'a judicial dictatorship'. Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, has moved to the US and lobbies the Trump administration weekly for further sanctions. He named Republican congresspeople María Elvira Salazar, Richard McCormick, and Chris Smith, and strategist Steve Bannon as contacts.
With the verdict expected in September, supporters urge Trump to target the entire 11-member court. Last Sunday, Carvalho joined thousands of protesters in Brasília carrying banners urging Trump to 'make Brazil great again'. Experts, however, doubt the pressure campaign will succeed in securing an acquittal.
