Trump considering attending ‘mega-rally’ in Brazil to endorse Bolsonaro’s re-election: report

On Friday, The Daily Beast reported that former President Donald Trump is considering getting involved in the re-election effort of far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro — out of gratitude for Bolsonaro being one of the only world leaders to stand by him as he promoted his "Stop the Steal" conspiracy theories around his own election loss.

"This summer, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, Trump told confidants that he's open to publicly endorsing Bolsonaro's reelection, potentially at a mega-rally in Brazil where he and Bolsonaro could appear together side-by-side, to rail against what they each deem undesired election outcomes," reported Asawin Suebsaeng, Will Sommer, and Adam Rawnsley. "Bolsonaro ... has been preemptively spreading groundless claims of election 'fraud,' a strategy jarringly reminiscent of Trump's failed coup in the United States."

According to the report, the Trump and Bolsonaro families maintain strong ties.

"President Bolsonaro's son Eduardo, who serves as a member of the Brazilian parliament and has been described in the U.S. press as the Donald Trump Jr. of Brazil, recently met with Trump, according to a post on the Brazilian lawmaker's Instagram account," said the report. "Last month, the younger Bolsonaro posted pictures of himself at Trump Tower standing next to the former president. Bolsonaro, whose infant daughter posed alongside the ex-president in an autographed MAGA ball cap, said he 'took the opportunity to invite [Trump] to come to our country when he sees fit, maybe in a CPAC-Brazil.'"

Bolsonaro faces a massive uphill battle to be re-elected, as polls show he is decisively trailing former Workers' Party president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In addition to spreading his own election lies, Bolsonaro supporters have staged demonstrations that opponents say are coup attempts against the other branches of government to solidify their grip on power.