The facts
Brazilians voted Sunday in a presidential election dominated by Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro. If no candidate wins more than half of valid votes, the two with the most votes advance to an October 25 runoff.
The campaign's defining scandal is the collapse of Banco Master. Its former chief executive, Daniel Vorcaro, is now imprisoned, and his relationships extended across Brazil's political, financial and judicial establishment.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, one of Bolsonarism's main adversaries, became a central figure in the scandal. The court began weighing whether to investigate claims that Moraes advised Vorcaro as he tried to save Banco Master from collapse, while a law firm run by Moraes' wife held a three-year, R$131 million (about $25 million) contract with the bank. Moraes has denied wrongdoing; a decision on a formal probe was postponed in September.
The scandal then spread to Flavio Bolsonaro's own campaign. At his campaign rally in Porto Alegre on September 2, people wore masks of the imprisoned banker Daniel Vorcaro. Flavio is now under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering related to financing Vorcaro provided for "Dark Horse," a film about Jair Bolsonaro. Flavio has denied wrongdoing.
Washington loomed over the race as well. Trump's tariffs on Brazilian goods backfired so badly that some have joked "the most effective campaigner for Lula has been Donald Trump," Winter said. Flavio courted the opposite camp: Netanyahu appeared by video to endorse him when he launched his campaign in July, and in May Flavio met Trump in the Oval Office, then Vance and Rubio the next day. Argentina's Javier Milei called Lula a "convict" and the government "thieving socialists," prompting Brazil to recall its ambassador to Buenos Aires.
Winter described the national mood as "apathetic polarization". "It reinforces the disgust and apathy that Brazilians feel with their political system as a whole," he said of the scandal. "One side only cares about the corruption of the other side and closes its eyes to corruption among those in its own political camp," said Bruno Brandao, executive director of Transparency International Brazil.
Our take
Brazil’s political class is a fucking clown car of grifters, and the only guy who wasn’t a hypocrite is the one in a cell. Daniel Vorcaro, the imprisoned Banco Master fuckhead, didn’t just buy influence - he bought the whole goddamn circus. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Bolsonaro family’s supposed arch-nemesis, is getting his dick sucked by a R$131 million contract funneled to his wife’s law firm while he allegedly advised the same collapsing bank. That’s not a conflict of interest, that’s a full-blown financial gangbang, and Moraes is the justice pretending he’s not the main event. What a sanctimonious prick. His denial is worth less than the bank’s collapsed assets. He’s not a judge; he’s a luxury invoice with a robe. Meanwhile, Flavio Bolsonaro, the tough-on-crime dipshit, is under investigation because Vorcaro’s cash allegedly financed a fucking vanity film about his daddy. So the anti-corruption crusader’s campaign biopic was bankrolled by a corrupt banker. You can’t make this shit up. This isn’t politics; it’s a money-laundering scheme with campaign rallies. And the best part? Flavio’s own supporters showed up to cheer for him wearing masks of the imprisoned banker. Not in protest, you useless cunts - as fucking celebration. It’s the most honest campaign merchandise in history: ‘Vote for us, we’re all on the same corrupt payroll!’ They’re so brazen they’ve turned a jailbird’s face into a party favor. These people have no shame, because shame requires a line they haven’t already pissed on for cash. Transparency International nailed it: one side only screams about the other side’s corruption. Moraes’ fans will claim his wife’s firm just does great legal work. Flavio’s dickriders will say the movie money was a cultural donation. Everyone’s innocent, everyone’s outraged, and everyone’s wallet is stained with the same banker’s bullshit. The ‘apathetic polarization’ Winter describes is just the sound of a nation realizing its entire political system is a rigged game run by greedy bastards. Sunday, Brazilians get to choose their next president. Vorcaro already chose his bitches - all of them. He’s the only winner here, because he proved every powerful asshole in the country has a price, and he paid it.
