ElectionLine’s View From Abroad: Brazil’s Patrícia Vasconcellos Says Reporting On Latin American Political Violence Helped Her Keep Cool When Trump Was Shot
Welcome to ElectionLine’s A View From Abroad series, in which we speak with media figures who are not from America but keep a close eye on its politics. Every few weeks, these smart observers provide a unique perspective on the fraught and unpredictable campaign for the White House. This week, our interview is with Patrícia Vasconcellos, the White House correspondent for SBT, one of Brazil’s biggest free-to-air TV networks.
As the shots rang out near Butler, Pennsylvania, Patrícia Vasconcellos was ready. The Brazilian journalist, who has been stationed in the U.S. for years, was working that Saturday in July and went live soon after Donald Trump escaped the rally stage with an ear wound, but most importantly, his life.
More from Deadline
Vasconcellos broadcast the news to viewers of SBT, the Brazilian free-to-air TV network that reaches a whopping 90M people every day. She is an experienced hand on television, starting as a TV anchor at the tender age of 22 before moving into front-line reporting. She has worked at SBT for nearly 17 years and was previously employed by Globo, Brazil’s biggest broadcasting network.
This grounding stood her in good stead for a story that sent shockwaves through the U.S. election campaign. “I was cool,” Vasconcellos says, speaking to Deadline over a Zoom call from her office in Washington D.C. She has seen attacks on public figures before, having spent more than half a decade covering politics in Latin America. Political violence is a “characteristic” of democracy in the region, she explains.
Vasconcellos points to the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Ecuador last year, but perhaps the most resonant attack came in 2018, when Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed on his route to becoming Brazil’s president. The far-right candidate was left in a serious condition after the incident, which is etched in Vasconcellos’ memory. “For us Brazilians reporting here [in America], that moment when Trump was hit in his ear, this parallel came into the mind,” she says.
The Trump assassination attempt changed the trajectory of the entire election, Vasconcellos argues. She does not think it was a coincidence that Joe Biden withdrew from the White House race just days after the shooting when it became clear that events in Pennsylvania had given Trump fresh momentum.
She says the race was “practically dead” with Biden leading the Democratic ticket and the entry of Kamala Harris has turned the campaign into a “real dispute” ahead of November 5. “She has a chance to win,” Vasconcellos argues, pointing to Harris’ “massive” approval ratings among young voters, though she acknowledges that the polls are “extremely tight.” Recent voter surveys give Harris a slim advantage.
Vasconcellos, a former board member of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents USA, says there is “huge interest” back home in the election. The fascination with American politics and culture even outstrips the interest in Argentina, Brazil’s neighbor and fierce soccer rival.
Brazil and America have plenty in common. Bolsonaro was famously known as the “Trump of the Tropics” and the parallels between the two men extend beyond being targets of political violence. After the January 6 Capitol riots in 2021, Brazil had January 8 in 2023, when a mob of Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed Congress. And while Trump is running for office again as judicial wheels turn, Bolsonaro has been banned from campaigning for eight years after being found guilty of abusing his power by electoral judges. He called the verdict a “stab in the back.”
Fierce freedom of speech battles are also raging in Brazil after X, the social media platform once known as Twitter, was banned in the country in a disinformation row. The White House appeared to side with Elon Musk, with a spokesperson telling Vasconcellos’ colleague, Globo journalist Raquel Kr?henbühl, that having access to the site was a form of “freedom of speech.”
Vasconcellos does not take a side in the debate, but admits she is still using X from her station in Washington. She is wary of the threat of disinformation, however. “If it’s information that does not come directly from someone working for the campaign, or that someone did not directly tell me, I do not write,” the White House correspondent explains.
Vasconcellos, like many of her counterparts in the foreign press, would like greater access to the Biden administration and thinks the pool is “protective” against outsiders. “We need to have opportunities to actually ask questions because I truly believe we can contribute, bringing a different perspective,” she says.
An opportunity may present itself this week when Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visits New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The environment and technology are key policy areas between the U.S. and Brazil, and Vasconcellos thinks a Harris administration will be essential to keeping political and diplomatic channels open.
Vasconcellos says covering events in recent weeks has been “intense.” With another apparent assassination attempt on Trump, festering conspiracy theories, and lingering concerns about future civil unrest, there is no sign that the pace is about to slow down. Vasconcellos will be reporting on it all for tens of millions of Brazilians — and probably with a cool head.
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.