Thread by @apagliar

Lula the first to leave the podium, approach the camera and talk calmly about a return to institutional normality. Bolsonaro less comfortable in this type of setting. Hasn't moved much. #DebateNaBand

Lula asks Bolsonaro first question: how many institutions of higher ed he's created in office. Bolsonaro doesn't answer, instead tries to convince people that he is more committed to conditional cash transfer programs than Lula which...seems like a hard sell #DebateNaBand

Early Bolsonaro strategy is to frame Lula as a guy who promises the moon but can't actually deliver. The challenge, again, is that there is a long positive policy record Lula would love to discuss! #DebateNaBand

Lula frames expansion of higher ed as part of income redistribution strategy along with Bolsa Familia. Doubles down on question to Bolsonaro. Interesting early point of emphasis for Lula. Wonder if, in part, meant to highlight Haddad's work as Ed Sec #DebateNaBand

"I won't ask about higher ed because you clearly don't know anything about...so I'll ask about the pandemic instead" Lula confident taking the fight to Bolsonaro early on #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro insists he handled pandemics well, Lula goes off listing off Bolsonaro's well-known act of negligence at height of pandemic. A palpable sense of outrage in Lula's voice. Bolsonaro doesn't seem rattled, having dealt with outrage for years in office now #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro tries to suggest that Lula, who hasn't held office in over a decade, is responsible for corruption scandals at the height of the pandemic. Again, seems like a hard sell... #DebateNaBand

Nothing much seeming to come out of this extensive relitigation of Bolsonaro's pandemic response. Will change zero (0) minds at this point #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro says a man of Lula's age shouldn't lie, which seems to set off something in Lula who calls the president a liar and "the king of stupidity." Righteous outrage is a good register for Lula. He's gotta stay in that mode all night, I think. #DebateNaBand

Lula calls out Bolsonaro for only taking COVID seriously now that he's running for reelection, saying he never visited a single hospital or a grieving family #DebateNaBand

Don't know how much it matters but Lula absolutely 100% seems to be having a better time in this confrontation than Bolsonaro. Not sure what that means but major early takeaway #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro abruptly shifts gears, brings up the issues of police officers murdered on the job—this is vintage Bolsonaro, who launched his political career in defense of the interests of the security forces everyman #DebateNaBand

Lula says Bolsonaro is the one who has to answer about connections to organized crime. Lula brags about 5 max security prisons created in his gov (yikes) and mentions Bolsonaro's ties to the killers of Marielle Franco #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro notes Lula got 4/5 votes of inmates eligible to cast ballot on Election Day, suggesting...what exactly? That criminals in the prisons Lula built like the guy who put up the bars around them? Playing on classist fears that Workers' Party inherently criminal #DebateNaBand

Lula smiles and says "you know what I'm proud of? I am the only president who can go into a favela" #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro says he did more for the Northeast of Brazil—Lula's birthplace—than the former president. Bolsonaro has to try, of course, but will be very hard to chip into Lula's overwhelming advantage in that part of the country. Doubt these attacks stick. #DebateNaBand

Lula faults Bolsonaro for not crediting his predecessors for important infrastructure projects completed during his term but started earlier. Lula calls this an insult to the voters' intelligence. #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro insisting Workers' Party governments couldn't finish key infrastructure projects, but he acknowledges that all these projects started under Workers' Party admins! He can't cite a single thing that's entirely his #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro brags that his infrastructure minister "*completed* projects" around the country, saying Lula didn't do anything. Then what was the guy completing lol?? #DebateNaBand

[end of first segment, more serene than expected so far] #DebateNaBand

Journalists at the event all seem to think Lula performed better in first part of the debate, saying the former president had better body language and effectively set the topic for the discussion—pandemic—that is not at all what Bolsonaro wants to talk about #DebateNaBand

calm before the storm #DebateNaBand

Lula approaches the first journalist to pose question and says he means no offense, no harm. The journalist, @veramagalhaes, is the woman Bolsonaro went off on at the last debate. #DebateNaBand

"satisfação em revê-la" 😬 #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro is asked about where money for R$600 cash program will come from—note that the PT is entirely responsible for making these programs a fixture in Brazil's policy landscape! #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro celebrating his dubious economic record while Lula looks on incredulously, wonders "what world is he on?" in response #DebateNaBand

"I sincerely believe privatizations are not a solution to anything" Lula says about Petrobras #DebateNaBand

@camposmello, who was at the receiving end of full Bolsonarista online vitriol early on, asks whether either candidate would support a legal crackdown on dissemination of fake news #DebateNaBand

Lula notes that debates against previous presidential opponents were about *real issues* but that Bolsonaro is tainted irrevocably by lies #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro first to bring up the insinuations of pedofilia circulating on the web today stemming from Bolsonaro's own words. Bolsonaro calls himself the victim of fake news. Recalls Trump's constant self-victimization #DebateNaBand

He's got props #DebateNaBand

This is the first I've heard Lula say he wants to revive experiments in participatory budgeting that Workers' Party implemented at local level decades ago #DebateNaBand

Disgraced judge Serio Moro hovering pathetically on the outskirts of Bolsonaro's inner circle #DebateNaBand

Lula tells mayors and governors to get ready because if elected he's summoning them all for a big summit in Brasília to discuss getting kids out of school during COVID caught up, among other issues. Bolsonaro answers by bashing Paulo Freire #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro attacks corruption in Petrobras under Lula, Lula responds by listing Petrobras successes, including become the 2nd largest energy company in the world (?) #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro put hands on Lula, things seemed to almost get out of control there...kinda scary actually #DebateNaBand

Ok, the pics make it look like they're having a good time but it was tense. Lula jumped at Boslonaro's touch #DebateNaBand

Lula finally pivots off of corruption at Petrobras to ask Bolsonaro why workers haven't gotten a real raise in years, which they did regularly under Workers' Party governments #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro celebrating economic stasis considering the international situation. Ribs Lula for not yet revealing who will be his finance minister #DebateNaBand

Lula gets up close to run through laundry list of policy victories under PT, including notable gains in higher ed under @Haddad_Fernando, currently locked in a tough race for governor of São Paulo state #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro asks if he can stand next to Lula. "Sure!" Lula says, then "you done?" once Bolsonaro finishes. Then Lula walks directly up to the camera, leaving Bolsonaro behind #DebateNaBand

awkward silence as Bolsonaro consults his notes for next topic #DebateNaBand

"Nobody wants you there and nobody wants to come here" Lula promises to restore Brazil's international standing, tying it into all the crazy shit Bolsonaro says (insinuations of pedofilia) and the disastrous policies he's overseen (deforestation) #DebateNaBand

Lula just messing with Bolsonaro now #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro goes off on Lula's "friends" Ortega and Petro. Lula comes back, says he's proud to have been there to celebrate the victory of the Sandinista revolution but says nobody should cling to power forever. But that decision should be left to people of Nicaragua #DebateNaBand

It really isn't 2018 anymore. Bolsonaro railing about Lula's ties to Maduro, anticommunism etc clearly not having the impact it did 4 years ago. This is a reach for Bolsonaro who doesn't have much to say in policy terms #DebateNaBand

Bolsonaro blaming Lula for church closures during the pandemic...but Lula had no power! He wasn't in office! He held no political position! Does this line of attack land with anyone? #DebateNaBand

Lula didn't manage time too well so Bolsonaro able to go on a looooong animated tirade, ends by calling Lula a national embarrassment #DebateNaBand

Closing statements. Already? #DebateNaBand

Never heard a Brazilian politician complain about unisex bathrooms but here we are. Also: "no to abortion, yes to private property!" #DebateNaBand

Lula calls himself the only real democrat in the race, says Bolsonaro is a little dictator who wants to takeover Brazilian institutions. Promises churrasco and beer to all (who want it!) #DebateNaBand

Lula says he's sure he earned lots of new votes tonight #DebateNaBand