You can watch this episode of Right Now With Perry Bacon above or by following this show on YouTube or Substack. You can read a transcript here.
Left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finished behind far-right Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round of the Brazilian elections earlier this month. He is an underdog in the October 25 runoff. If Bolsonaro wins, it would be a dramatic turnaround. Bolsonaro’s father, Jair, lost to Lula in the 2022 presidential election and three years later was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for attempting to overturn the election results. In the latest edition of Right Now, Michael Paarlberg, a political science professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and an expert on Latin America, explains why Lula is struggling politically. He argues that it’s not the economy, which has grown around the left-wing leader. Bolsonaro is benefiting from antiestablishment sentiment, Lula’s age (80), and the growing number of Brazilians who are evangelical Christians, Paarlberg says. There are many parallels between Lula and former U.S. President Joe Biden, according to Paarlberg.