Trump critic Lula wins reelection in Brazil
An unprecedented fourth term is the headline, but the more striking detail is who Lula beat: Flávio Bolsonaro, carrying his father's movement into the runoff and losing. That turns this election into a verdict on a political family as much as on Lula himself.
I think the Trump angle is easy to overstate. Lula has been a critic of the former president, sure, but his win is primarily a domestic story about Brazil's own divisions. Still, it lands at a moment when the region's left is resurgent, and Washington will have to decide how to deal with a leader who isn't shy about opposing U.S. policy.
What I'd want to know next is how Lula governs a country that voted almost down the middle. The quote about making history in the streets and at the ballot boxes is hopeful, but history suggests that kind of mandate gets tested quickly by inflation, corruption allegations and a polarized congress. The real question is whether a fourth term brings stability or just more of the same.