Conservative former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro celebrated President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on Monday by filming himself doing Trump’s now-famous campaign dance alongside members of his political party.
Brazil’s Liberal Party (PL), which Bolsonaro leads, shared a video on Monday showing the former President wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and dancing to the tune of Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” in the company of young PL councillors recently elected in Brazil’s October municipal elections. Bolsonaro and the group are seen jovially dancing and moving their fists similarly to how President-elect Trump did in presidential campaign rallies.
“Our president Jair Bolsonaro joined the trend and did the Donald Trump dance with the PL youth,” the PL’s message read.
Bolsonaro has been a staunch supporter of President-elect Trump and was among the first regional leaders to publicly extend his congratulations to Trump following last week’s election results — which he described as “historic” and a milestone that “rekindles the flame of freedom, sovereignty, and true democracy.”
“Today, we witness the resurgence of a true warrior. A man who, even after facing a brutal electoral process in 2020 and an unjustifiable judicial persecution, has risen again, as few in history have managed to do,” Bolsonaro said last week.
The former president, currently banned from running for public office until 2030, hoped that Trump’s victory inspires Brazil to follow the same path. Bolsonaro was narrowly defeated by current socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022. Brazil’s top court banned Bolsonaro in 2023 for questioning the integrity of Brazil’s electoral system in a meeting with foreign diplomats in 2022, at a time during which he was president.
Current Brazilian President Lula, who would ultimately congratulate Trump, had reportedly expressed his public support of Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming that a Trump victory would be “Nazism with a different face.”
In addition to being barred from running for public office, Bolsonaro is also banned from leaving Brazil after Supreme Federal Tribunal’s (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes ordered Brazil’s Federal Police to seize Bolsonaro’s passport in February. De Moraes is investigating an alleged “coup” plot that Bolsonaro was accused of staging following his loss in the 2022 election. De Moraes also prohibited Bolsonaro from communicating with any of the other individuals being investigated, including PL’s president Valdemar Costa Neto.
Last week, in an interview given to the left-wing Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro said that he would request the STF allow him to travel to the United States in January to attend President-elect Trump’s inauguration should he receive an invitation.
“If Trump invites me, I’ll petition the TSE [Superior Electoral Tribunal] [and] the STF. Now, with all due respect, the strongest man in the world … do you think he’s going to invite Lula? Perhaps as a matter of protocol,” Bolsonaro asserted.
“Who will he invite from Brazil? Maybe only me. Is he [de Moraes] going to say no to the most powerful man in the world? I’m an ex [president]. Is the guy going to get into trouble because of his ex?” he continued.
President-elect Trump endorsed Bolsonaro in Brazil’s 2022 presidential elections. At the time, Trump described Bolsonaro as “one of the great presidents of any country in the world.”
“Thanks to the support of the Brazilian people and our determination to fight for Brazil’s interests, today we are respected throughout the world and we can count on the support of free and prosperous nations and no longer of socialist dictatorships, as in the past,” Bolsonaro responded to Trump at the time.
Although Bolsonaro is currently banned from running, the Liberal Party is reportedly set on nominating him as their candidate for the upcoming 2026 presidential elections. Reuters reported last week that Trump’s victory has “reinvigorated” the Brazilian right as pro-Bolsonaro lawmakers push towards passing legislation that, if passed, could allow him to run in 2026.
“Trump’s victory will inspire conservatives worldwide and reinforce the movement in Brazil to reelect Jair Bolsonaro as president in the 2026 elections,” PL President Valdemar Costa Neto told Reuters.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.