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(Bloomberg) — Eduardo Bolsonaro wanted a win, and when US President Donald Trump in July threatened to hit Brazil with 50% tariffs, he believed he had one.
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Four months earlier, the 41-year-old had abandoned his congressional seat in Brazil to move to the US in a bid to persuade the White House to help his father, Jair Bolsonaro — the nation’s former leader who is on trial for an alleged coup attempt.
When Trump demanded that Brazil’s Supreme Court put a stop to the trial if the country wanted to avoid the tariffs, it seemed like the younger Bolsonaro had succeeded in his mission. But he was frustrated that his dad didn’t share his enthusiasm in the moment.
“The most powerful man in the world is on your side,” he told his father, according to text messages released by the Supreme Court this week. “If the main beneficiary can’t even post a soft tweet, we’re screwed.”
When Jair Bolsonaro later described his son as “immature,” Eduardo exploded. “Go f— yourself, you ungrateful motherf——,” he wrote in one of the messages, which Federal Police compiled as part of another probe. “You’re my biggest obstacle in trying to help you,” he said in another.
The messages lay bare the fractious divisions in the Bolsonaro family. Less than a decade ago, the patriarch’s meteoric rise to Brazil’s presidency created a modern political dynasty with the potential to reshape the country for generations. But now, the once-united clan is creaking under pressure.
While Eduardo wanted his father to celebrate the tariff threat, his elder brother Flavio has expressed concern about the impact of US levies on Brazil.
The tariff threat has also given President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a shot in the arm, allowing the leftist to seize a nationalistic mantle and paint himself as a defender of Brazil. His once-sagging approval ratings are rising, and he now leads all potential challengers in early polls.
“That son of yours, Eduardo, is a jerk,” Silas Malafaia, an evangelical pastor with close ties to the family and the country’s right-wing movement, said in a message to Bolsonaro at the height of the tariff tensions in July, according to the police documents. He “just handed Lula and the left a nationalist narrative. And at the same time he’s screwing you over.”