‘Plínio Trump’ channels President Donald Trump as protest candidate in Brazil election
Por Mauricio Savarese and Diarlei Rodrigues — – World RSS Feed
‘Plínio Trump’ channels President Donald Trump as protest candidate in Brazil election
Trump is not the only U.S. politician with admirers in Brazil’s congressional race
Mauricio Savarese & Diarlei Rodrigues Wednesday 30 September 2026 16:55 BST
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Cruising through Brazil‘s southeastern state of Minas Gerais in his classic Pontiac Grand Ville, helicopter pilot Plínio Vicentin Júnior draws eager glances as an American flag flutters near his windshield like a presidential motorcade.
The 59-year-old is embarking on his first bid for Congress. But until Oct. 4, he is Plínio Trump, channeling U.S. President Donald Trump through his hairstyle, long orange tie, firm handshake, and even his stride.
“(Trump) is likeable, iconic,” Plínio Trump told The Associated Press late Monday after campaigning in Juiz de Fora, a city of 570,000 residents 180 kilometers (111 miles) west of Rio de Janeiro. “Few people sneered at me. Most people smile and hug me.”
Candidates like Plínio Trump belong to a Brazilian custom spanning nearly eight decades. Whether labeled protest candidates or joke candidates, they introduce an absurd element to congressional elections. To enter, aspirants must register with one of Brazil’s 30 political parties and satisfy identical qualifications as standard contenders, including clean-record mandates.
open image in galleryThis cycle, a few hundred such figures appear among the more than 7,800 contenders competing for congressional seats, alongside many others contesting state legislative positions.
While these engaging personalities draw citizens weary of mainstream establishment figures, votes cast for them build their parties’ overall totals under Brazil’s electoral system. Increased support for satire candidates can yield additional congressional seats — along with greater public funding for the exact system protest voters seek to reject.
‘Barack Obama’ and ’Mick Jagger’ enter the race
Trump is not the only U.S. politician with admirers in Brazil’s congressional race.
Henrique Barack Obama, born Cláudio Henrique dos Anjos, holds even higher ambitions. Following prior political bids in Rio de Janeiro, he is pursuing one of two Senate seats available in the Federal District, home to Brazil’s capital, Brasilia. Yet observers who have encountered him firsthand note that the 57-year-old bears scant physical resemblance to the former U.S. president.
“It is more about his posture,” said Claudio Santos, 33, who knows the Brazilian Obama from his time in Rio. “He also likes the attention that the name brings, obviously. When he wasn’t running for office, he would pose as Obama during Flamengo soccer games.”
Another parody hopeful, Mick Jagger, whose birth name is Walcy Calixto Vieira, is once more seeking a legislative seat in the central state of Goias. Far from a rock’n’roll frontman, he is a 66-year-old carpenter sporting unkempt hair and brow-level bangs.
open image in galleryOther contenders forego celebrity impersonations in favor of striking aliases. “Tsunami Grandmother,” whose real name is Scheile Aparecida Soares Brandão, is pursuing a state assembly seat in Minas Gerais. “Who Who,” born Francisco das Chagas Costa Oliveira, is seeking election to the legislature in the northeastern state of Piaui.
Truck driver Marcelo da Rosa, running as “Lonely Boy,” is a Parana state resident seeking a seat in Congress, while martial artist Severino Cardoso Sobrinho—popularly known as Samurai Taxi Driver—features in Instagram videos showing off nunchaku skills as he runs for the state legislature in Pernambuco, birthplace of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
A tradition dating back to the 1950s
Brazil’s practice of novel candidacies traces back to 1959, when roughly 100,000 voters in São Paulo wrote the name of Cacareco, a female rhinoceros living at the municipal zoo, on paper ballots during a city council election. Electoral officials subsequently invalidated those votes.
Political stunts of this nature vanished during Brazil’s military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. However, the nation’s return to national elections in 1989 featured one of its most memorable presidential candidates: Dr. Enéas Carneiro, a respected cardiologist who delivered rapid, complex speeches in 15-second radio and television broadcasts. Many Brazilians found his frantic presentation hilarious.
“My name is Enéas!” he shouted into the camera at the end of every ad. Carneiro pulled in 360,000 votes in Brazil’s first direct presidential election since 1960.
Five years later, with voters still angered over the corruption scandal that led to President Fernando Collor’s impeachment, Carneiro finished third, gathering 4.6 million votes to place behind Lula and ultimate winner Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
open image in galleryThe phenomenon reached a new peak in 2010, when Tiririca, a circus clown and comedian, won a congressional seat for São Paulo with more than 1.3 million votes. His campaign slogans included, “It can’t get any worse” and, “What does a federal congressman do? I really don’t know. Vote for me and I will find out for you!”
Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, dubbed Tiririca by his mother because he looked perpetually cross as a child, served four consecutive terms. He is pursuing a fifth representing his native Ceara state in Brazil’s northeast, having secured 70,000 votes to retain his position in 2022.
Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper university in São Paulo, noted that candidates like Tiririca punch above their weight owing to Brazil’s proportional representation setup, where candidate votes accrue to party slates before being distributed proportionally.
“Some of these candidates have enough votes to win their own seats, but others just add 1,000 or 2,000 votes to their parties. They don’t get seats, but they help their parties secure a bigger slice of Congress and public funds,” Melo said. “Nowadays, we see many more of these bizarre candidates because traditional political leadership is decomposing. People who would normally fill these roles are opting out of institutional politics.”
As Plínio Trump concluded campaigning in Juiz de Fora before returning to Varginha — a city 400 kilometers (248 miles) west of Rio de Janeiro nationally renowned for an alleged UFO landing site — he acknowledged that his decision to campaign as the U.S. president extends past physical similarity.
“We have few options on the right in Brazil,” he said. “For me, Trump is a right-wing reference.”
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