Tom Fischermann

Well done, @jamesmatthewsky. You showed @AbdulElSayed that a Scotsman doesn't back down, or back away. Blue wave or no blue wave, I hope this guy loses tonight.

"Even Silas Malafaia, a pugnacious televangelist who is close to Bolsonaro’s jailed father, Jair Bolsonaro, had harsh words. 'Bolsonaro’s kids are jackasses … A bunch of amateur morons,' Malafaia was quoted as saying by O Globo."

I am going to write something below that should be seen as the musings of one who celebrated – and still celebrates – Lula’s victory over Bolsonaro Jr. Here it goes: I cannot for the life of me justify why o why Brazil’s courts had to demand of Bolsonaro that he hands over his passport the moment he lost the election. That he disputed the veracity of the election result is a sign of a faulty character, evidence that he is a bad loser. BUT, he had every right to being a bad loser; to dispute, rightly or wrongly, any result. As for the argument that he was being investigated for other misdemeanours or crimes, that doesn’t wash either: What would have happened if Bolsonaro had won the election? Would the judges also prevent him from travelling abroad, as President-elect? I very much doubt that – which means that the judges were conflating executive and judicial powers. To those who tell me that the Bolsonaro clan is a fascistic, criminal family, my reply is: You and I may very well think that. Alas, the judiciary has no right to use its powers to indict and to pursue someone because – or immediately after – they lost an election. It is shameful, to be precise. And it is also dangerous for those of us on the left who know what it means to be banned and hounded by rogue judges and police commissioners. But I also have a message to Bolsonaro supporters, or those sitting on the fence, who assume that Lula is somehow behind the judges. He is not! This is the same court that imprisoned, falsely, Lula himself. What we have in Brazil is a judiciary that overreaches and habitually crosses the line that ought to separate judicial from political power. It is such a shame that a judge took it upon himself to go after Bolsonaro on the eve of his defeat and, in doing so, to sully Lula’s stupendous victory. One last point that my comrades in Brazil should note: If Bolsonaro and Rubio wanted to mount a campaign against Lula and Brazilian democracy they could never have been aided better than by that judge’s reckless writ.

Flávio Bolsonaro declared himself Brazil’s true president-elect, and then quickly deleted it. About an hour ago, his team issued a statement from him declaring himself the “president-elect” because he claimed the election was stolen. Less than an hour later, after that caused a controversy, they reissued the statement and changed that term to “leader.” Screenshots below.