President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party, PT) called Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party, PL-RJ) a "malandro carioca" — a derogatory term implying a trickster from Rio de Janeiro — during the second-round presidential debate hosted by Band television on Sunday, October 18. The remark came in the first head-to-head televised encounter between the two since the campaign began.
The exchange unfolded as Lula questioned Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), about proposed spending cuts known as the "tesouraço." "Are you going to borrow a chainsaw from Javier Milei?" Lula asked, referring to Argentina's president. "On whose back will the cuts fall?"
Flávio Bolsonaro replied the cuts would fall on Lula's back, citing privileges and a trip by First Lady Janja da Silva. He claimed the government spent R$ 7 billion on the president's wife. Fact-checking agency Agência Lupa rated the claim false, stating the figure approximates total federal government travel spending from 2023 to 2025, not Janja's expenses alone.
Lula responded by calling Flávio Bolsonaro a "habitual liar" and a "carioca trickster who pretends not to pretend and lies blatantly."
In the second segment on health care, Flávio Bolsonaro opened by expressing solidarity with "all my brothers and sisters from Rio de Janeiro." "I was called a trickster by my opponent. That is how he treats people when a state like Rio chooses change over continuity of the current program," he said.
In the first round, Flávio Bolsonaro received 53.01% of votes in Rio de Janeiro state versus Lula's 39.41%. In the state capital, the senator led with 47.88% against Lula's 43.91%.
Allies of Flávio Bolsonaro criticized Lula's remark on social media. Marcelo Bretas, a former judge in Rio's Operation Car Wash investigation who was compulsorily retired, posted: "Carioca is not a trickster." State Deputy Anderson Moraes (PL-RJ) wrote: "Is that what you think of cariocas, Lula?" Re-elected Senator Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ) added: "Cariocas are workers. They cannot be used as a symbol of tricksters."