Counterpoint 10-12-26 w Scott Harris discusses: Lula Fights to Stop Right Wing Wave in Brazil; Trump Allied Oligarchs Take Over Another Media Behemoth; More Americans are Searching for Answers fr Socialist Candidates; GOP trying to Rehabilitate Nixon

Yeah, great to be with you again, Scott.

So just in summary, just to sort of set the scene for our conversation tonight, Brazil's October 4th presidential election produced what to many pundits was a surprising victory for right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who received approximately 47% of the vote compared with Lula, Lula da Silva's 45%.

And because neither candidate secured a majority, the two will face off in an October 25th runoff election.

Bolsonaro's stronger than expected performance reflected dissatisfaction over crime, living costs, and Lula's government, despite Lula's success in really moving the economy in a positive direction for a majority of the population.

And I've been reading about the election also strengthening right-wing legislators, potentially giving Bolsonaro considerable legislative power if he is elected.

So to begin, I guess, Alexander, I would ask you to discuss your view on how and why Brazilian voters apparently favored right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro over Lula da Silva in this first round.

Well, thanks, Scott.

It is a confounding question that I've been asking myself over the last few Latin American elections, where we've seen a pretty consistent trend of very far-right candidates that are very Trump-aligned that have been winning elections against progressives.

We saw this in Honduras, of course, at the end of last year, where Xiomara Castro lost to a Trump-endorsed candidate, Asfura.

And then we saw it again in Columbia just a few months ago, where Petro, the first left-wing president that Columbia has ever had, well, he wasn't the incumbent in that election, but the senator, Ivan Cepeda, the left-wing senator who was part of Petro's camp, who many thought would be a shoo-in, given that Petro had a pretty strong record, particularly in in terms of the economy and its benefits to the majority of Colombians.

That candidate also lost against the Trump-endorsed far-right candidate, Abdelardo de la Espraya.

And, well, in this case, Lula has not lost yet.

There is going to be this runoff election, as you mentioned, in a week and a half.

But certainly the first round of the election is dispiriting for progressive forces.

No one expected Lula or Flavio Bolsonaro to win outright.

But the polls suggested that Lula would be ahead of Flavio Bolsonaro.

And I'll just call him Flavio going forward.

which is, you know, he's typically referred to as Flavio in Brazilian politics.

And, yeah, it ended up being the reverse, of course, with Flavio coming ahead of Lula.

And this has had, you know, a very negative sort of psychological impact, I would say, on the Lula campaign, because it was quite unexpected.

And You know, it's very, for those of us who followed the Colombian election, very eerily reminiscent of that election where there was a similar expectation.

In fact, Ivan de Cepeda camp expected Cepeda, or was certainly hoping, that he would win in the first round.

And instead, he came in second, a few points behind Eduardo de la Espraya.

Again, you know, strongly contradicting the polls that had taken place just a few days before.

So, you know, there's a sort of a hidden vote, certainly, where you have some voters, well, a significant quantity of voters, really, that, you know, apparently didn't reveal who they were actually going to vote for in the election and gave another response.

Yeah, great to be with you again, Scott.

So just in summary, just to sort of set the scene for our conversation tonight, Brazil's October 4th presidential election produced what to many pundits was a surprising victory for right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who received approximately 47% of the vote compared with Lula, Lula da Silva's 45%.

And because neither candidate secured a majority, the two will face off in an October 25th runoff election.

Bolsonaro's stronger than expected performance reflected dissatisfaction over crime, living costs, and Lula's government, despite Lula's success in really moving the economy in a positive direction for a majority of the population.

And I've been reading about the election also strengthening right-wing legislators, potentially giving Bolsonaro considerable legislative power if he is elected.

So to begin, I guess, Alexander, I would ask you to discuss your view on how and why Brazilian voters apparently favored right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro over Lula da Silva in this first round.

Well, thanks, Scott.

It is a confounding question that I've been asking myself over the last few Latin American elections, where we've seen a pretty consistent trend of very far-right candidates that are very Trump-aligned that have been winning elections against progressives.

We saw this in Honduras, of course, at the end of last year, where Xiomara Castro lost to a Trump-endorsed candidate, Asfura.

And then we saw it again in Columbia just a few months ago, where Petro, the first left-wing president that Columbia has ever had, well, he wasn't the incumbent in that election, but the senator, Ivan Cepeda, the left-wing senator who was part of Petro's camp, who many thought would be a shoo-in, given that Petro had a pretty strong record, particularly in in terms of the economy and its benefits to the majority of Colombians.

That candidate also lost against the Trump-endorsed far-right candidate, Abdelardo de la Espraya.

And, well, in this case, Lula has not lost yet.

There is going to be this runoff election, as you mentioned, in a week and a half.

But certainly the first round of the election is dispiriting for progressive forces.

No one expected Lula or Flavio Bolsonaro to win outright.

But the polls suggested that Lula would be ahead of Flavio Bolsonaro.

And I'll just call him Flavio going forward.

which is, you know, he's typically referred to as Flavio in Brazilian politics.

And, yeah, it ended up being the reverse, of course, with Flavio coming ahead of Lula.

And this has had, you know, a very negative sort of psychological impact, I would say, on the Lula campaign, because it was quite unexpected.

And You know, it's very, for those of us who followed the Colombian election, very eerily reminiscent of that election where there was a similar expectation.

In fact, Ivan de Cepeda camp expected Cepeda, or was certainly hoping, that he would win in the first round.

And instead, he came in second, a few points behind Eduardo de la Espraya.

Again, you know, strongly contradicting the polls that had taken place just a few days before.

So, you know, there's a sort of a hidden vote, certainly, where you have some voters, well, a significant quantity of voters, really, that, you know, apparently didn't reveal who they were actually going to vote for in the election and gave another response.