By Hotspotnews
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), acting on a direct request from Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso, funneled money into Brazil to interfere in the 2022 presidential election and help remove Jair Bolsonaro from power under the Biden administration. This narrative portrays USAID not as a development agency, but as a tool of leftist globalist interference, censorship, and election meddling—essentially a “deep state” operation targeting conservative leaders abroad, much like it allegedly targeted Trump-aligned figures.
From a conservative perspective, the core of this story holds significant weight and fits a larger pattern of U.S. foreign policy weaponizing “democracy promotion” and “disinformation” programs against right-wing populists. Eduardo Bolsonaro has repeatedly highlighted how USAID allegedly directed tens of millions of dollars—figures cited range from $680,000 to specific groups up to broader claims of $40 million or more—to Brazilian NGOs, fact-checkers, media outlets, and activist networks. These entities, including organizations like Sleeping Giants Brasil, Agência Lupa, Instituto Vero (linked to influencer Felipe Neto), and others, are accused of running coordinated campaigns to label Bolsonaro supporters’ content as “disinformation,” suppress pro-Bolsonaro voices on social media, and tilt public narrative toward Lula da Silva.
Mike Benz, a former Trump-era State Department official and vocal critic of what he calls the “censorship industrial complex,” has been central to amplifying this. He testified before Brazilian congressional committees, describing USAID as a “censorship octopus” that built out media and fact-checking infrastructure in Brazil specifically to counter Bolsonaro—whom U.S. officials reportedly viewed as a “Tropical Trump.” Benz has gone so far as to state that without USAID’s involvement, Bolsonaro would likely still be president and Brazil would retain a freer internet. These assertions gained traction in conservative Brazilian and American circles, especially after Barroso himself admitted in 2025 public remarks that he met multiple times with U.S. diplomats (including the acting ambassador) while heading the Superior Electoral Court. He requested public U.S. statements affirming the integrity of Brazil’s electoral system to help deter any “authoritarian wave” and influence Brazilian military leaders, who value U.S. training and equipment.
Conservatives see this as damning evidence of foreign meddling: a Brazilian Supreme Court justice actively soliciting American diplomatic and financial pressure to protect the electoral process from Bolsonaro’s challenges—while that same process involved aggressive content moderation that disproportionately hit the right. The Biden administration’s quiet but documented campaign—through CIA warnings, State Department pressure on Brazilian generals, and USAID/NED-funded programs—ensured the election outcome stuck, even as Bolsonaro raised legitimate concerns about electronic voting vulnerabilities and potential irregularities.
Critics of this narrative on the left dismiss it as conspiracy theory or exaggeration, pointing out that USAID funding often supports broad “democracy strengthening” efforts like combating fake news, and that no smoking-gun proof shows direct vote-rigging or Barroso ordering specific cash flows. Yet from a conservative standpoint, the lack of transparent accounting for every dollar isn’t the point—the point is the intent and effect. These programs created an uneven playing field: pro-Lula or anti-Bolsonaro voices got amplified and protected, while conservative speech got demonetized, shadow-banned, or removed under the guise of fighting “disinformation.” This mirrors what many conservatives believe happened in the U.S. in 2020, where similar “whole-of-society” censorship networks targeted right-wing content.
The timing only fuels suspicion. These revelations exploded in conservative media around 2025, coinciding with USAID facing intense scrutiny and eventual dismantling under the Trump administration, as figures like Elon Musk and Benz highlighted its role in global speech control. In Brazil, the fallout included Bolsonaro’s ongoing legal battles, his son’s exile-like status, and accusations that U.S.-backed networks helped enable a “lawfare” campaign against the right. For many on the right, this isn’t just about one election—it’s proof that powerful international bureaucracies will go to great lengths to prevent nationalist, America/Brazil-first leaders from holding power, all while cloaking their actions in noble-sounding terms like “protecting democracy.”
In short, while hard proof of Barroso personally requesting USAID cash to “remove” Bolsonaro may remain circumstantial, the broader conservative view is clear: U.S. taxpayer dollars helped fund a censorship and narrative-control apparatus that contributed to Bolsonaro’s defeat and the subsequent crackdown on his supporters. This represents a betrayal of sovereignty and free speech principles that true conservatives reject, whether at home or abroad.