Fears mounted Saturday that the Trump administration was “gearing up for something” ahead of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday, in which incumbent president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face off against far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, an ally to the White House.
“They are absolutely gearing up for something and they won’t try to hide it because they assume nobody will do anything to stop it,” argued Vesper Jordan, an independent filmmaker and video essayist.
In what some critics called an “unprecedented move,” the Trump administration suspended all U.S. consular services in Brazil on Friday, just two days before Brazil’s first-round presidential election. The U.S. State Department said the suspension was due to unspecified “security concerns,” though critics feared the move was part of an effort to “interfere in the country’s democratic elections.”
Critics also expressed outrage over the apparent lack of media attention that the Trump administration’s actions in Brazil had received. Foreign affairs journalist Ishaan Tharoor argued that “the U.S. role in Brazil’s election” was “criminally under-discussed in the U.S.,” and journalist Noah Kulwin issued a similar but far more blunt assessment.
“If we had a real news media instead of smug a——- who do video podcasts and video podcasts that are now broadcast on TV, this is the kind of thing that would be breaking through,” Kulwin wrote in a social media post on X.
Bolsonaro is a lawyer, politician and son of Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president who’s currently serving a 27-year sentence on charges related to an attempted coup after his election loss in 2022.
Last year, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil in response to Jair Bolsonaro’s prosecution, calling it a “Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY.”
“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” Trump wrote in a July 2025 letter to Lula. “This Trial should not be taking place.”
The US role in Brazil’s election is criminally under-discussed in the US, though obviously front and center of the conversation in Brazil. https://t.co/qqnagh3LX0 — Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) October 2, 2026
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