Michelle, ma belle: far-right grooms former first lady for politics

On the day that former President Jair Bolsonaro returned to Brazil after spending three months in the U.S., he hastened to say that his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, had no interest in entering politics. “She lacks the experience,” he said.

The leader of the Brazilian far-right has been unable to hide his jealousy of the recent media attention given to his former first lady, Michelle, whom allies have started to present as a possible heir to Mr. Bolsonaro’s political capital. She was named leader of a division within the former president’s Liberal Party devoted to women’s inclusion in politics and has headlined political events, being hosted with the same pomp and circumstance as heads of state.

Valdemar Costa Neto, the Liberal Party chairman, has said to anyone willing to listen that Ms. Bolsonaro could be a viable candidate in 2026 — citing her potential to be a flagbearer for Bolsonarism, without being sullied by her husband’s rude and crude firebrand personality.

Mr. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 election by a whisker — being the runner-up with the highest number of votes in the history of Brazilian democracy (58.2 million votes, or 49.1 percent of the total). A recent poll shows that 22 percent of voters still consider themselves “Bolsonaristas,” only trailing behind those who pledge support for the Workers’ Party — a political force that has been around for much longer and has five victorious presidential elections under its belt.

Still, Mr. Bolsonaro is on the way to being declared ineligible for public office. The country’s top electoral court is inching closer to a verdict in a trial on whether Mr. Bolsonaro abused his political powers during his presidency — using his office and the government’s structure to spread misinformation on the voting system and threaten to stage a coup. A conviction would bar the former president from office for eight years.