Runoffs in Brazil's presidential elections took place this past Sunday, Oct. 25, and the socialist candidate — Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ("Lula") — won after some procedural funny business. Among other things, Lula's campaign claimed that traffic congestion prevented some voters on city buses from getting to the polls before they closed at 5 PM. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin, who has also been Lula's private attorney and was appointed to the Supreme Court by Lula, unilaterally issued an order demanding that the polls be reopened for two hours — but only in pro-Lula districts. In parts of the country that favored Lula's opponent, Flavio Bolsonaro, polls remained closed. Zanin's decision was also problematic because the country has an electoral court with exclusive jurisdiction over election procedures; Zanin does not sit on that court.
Lula ended up winning — a remarkable result, given that he had trailed Bolsonaro by 2 million votes in the first election round a few weeks prior. Never in modern Brazilian history has a presidential candidate who came in second in the first round of voting won in the runoff.
But that's not the worst part. Bolsonaro objected to the results and declared his intention to have the election investigated, whereupon Senhor Presidente Lula called for Bolsonaro's arrest and demanded that he surrender his passport.
How very democratic. This is the way a politician behaves when he is confident about his victory, right? He immediately orders the arrest of his opponent?
Bolsonaro knew what was coming; his father was arrested by Lula and is currently serving a 27-year sentence. He apparently reached out to his contacts in Argentina and here in the United States (Secretary of State Marco Rubio is said to have played a role in Bolsonaro's escape). According to Reuters, Bolsonaro, his wife, Fernanda, and their two daughters crossed (passports in hand) into the Misiones province in Argentina late on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and boarded a private jet that took them to Guayaquil, Ecuador, and then on to Miami, Florida. Although Argentinian President Javier Milei has not released an official statement, Bolsonaro publicly thanked both President Donald Trump and Milei upon his arrival in Florida. The Bolsonaros will be given visas to stay in the United States.
Trump weighed in on the matter, saying, "It looked like another rigged election, frankly. I didn't take sides, but it was a terrible look for the world. Elections have to be indisputable, and it looked really bad to me."
Right on cue, here came America's left-leaning legacy media. An NBC News post on X Tuesday read, "Although Brazil's presidential election took place more than 4,000 miles away, the baseless conspiracy theory that it was stolen raced through the American right-wing media."
We'll let the investigative process (such as it is) play out in Brazil. But allow me to remind you of just a few of the events our media have told us were "baseless conspiracy theories" in recent years:
- That COVID-19 was accidentally released from a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
- That "gain-of-function" virus research was being conducted in China and funded by the United States government.
- That mRNA shots didn't prevent contraction or transmission of COVID-19.
- That those same shots had harmful — even deadly — side effects, like myocarditis and pericarditis
- That the drug ivermectin helped treat COVID-19 and isn't just "horse paste."
- That social media companies like Facebook and Twitter (pre-Elon Musk's purchase of the platform) were censoring facts and keeping truthful information from the public at the request of the Obama and Biden administrations.
- That Hunter Biden's laptop was not "Russian disinformation" and did, in fact, contain images of him using drugs and with prostitutes — including some that looked underage — and emails showing that Hunter was selling access to his father, former President Joe Biden.
- That the Obama and Biden administrations were weaponizing law enforcement against Trump and violating his constitutional rights (as well as those of members of his campaign team and Cabinet) by fabricating allegations of collusion with Russia that they knew were false.
- That federal law enforcement under the Obama administration lied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to illegally obtain surveillance warrants.
- That Hillary Clinton's campaign illegally paid for "opposition research" that was used to fabricate allegations against Trump that everyone knew were false.
- That there were election abnormalities in the 2020 election.
- That there were federal agents in the crowds at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Shall I continue?
Most of the legacy media outlets in this country are less investigative journalism organizations than they are vehicles for largely left-wing propaganda. And you know what that means: "This is extremely dangerous to our democracy."
What's more shocking — but shouldn't be at this point, frankly — is how many on the left in this country are taking Lula's side. Our reliably ill-informed celebrities in Hollywood have appeared in videos supporting him, making "L's" with their thumb and forefinger. (In my lifetime, that symbol has had a different meaning, and one that seems remarkably appropriate for those making the gesture now.) Democrat politicians like Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and outgoing Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) have supported Lula for demanding Bolsonaro's passport and attempting to throw him in prison.
Why should I be surprised? This is the same party that attempted to frame Trump on false charges of "colluding" with Russia, engaged in illegal surveillance of his campaign, and cheered on a New York state judge who idiotically lowballed the value of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort at $18 million to $27 million so he could find Trump guilty of fraud in borrowing against the property (and repaying the loan in full — with interest, no less). Mar-a-Lago is nearly 20 acres of unparalleled waterfront real estate in Palm Beach, Florida — an island where property runs $30 million to $44 million per acre. At a conservative estimate of $25 million per acre, Mar-a-Lago is worth $500 million.
Corruption in Brazil looks eerily similar to corruption in the United States, and its cheerleaders are on the same political side.