Marçal tells Bolsonaro to ‘mind his own business’ and says his ‘stick will break’

Former coach Pablo Marçal (PRTB) published, on Friday (1st), a video in which he attacks former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). Amid tensions over the right-wing leadership and with the 2026 presidential elections in sight, Marçal asked Bolsonaro to “get on with his life” and said that, if the former president is not “at peace”, the “stick will break”.

“Bolsonaro, get on with your life, brother, be a candidate. Leave me alone there. I’m serious, I like you, don’t worry. Touch your life, I’ve seen that all the Bolsonarists want to rise up against me. I’m ‘fine’, I’m going to do what I have to do here and in 2026 ‘we’ll see’”, said the former coach, who has already demonstrated his intention to run for President in 2026. Estadão reached out to Bolsonaro, who did not comment until the publication of this report. The space remains open.

In the video, Marçal highlighted the fact that Bolsonaro is ineligible after a decision by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) that prevents him from contesting elections until 2030. To allow the former president to run in 2026, the PL wants to approve an amnesty project that the benefit. According to Marçal, instead of focusing on becoming ready for the next election, the former head of the Executive wants to be a “bad guy” by criticizing him.

“You have my respect, I like you, you’re ‘cool’. Your problem isn’t with me, it’s with the STF. You have to be eligible to contest the election. Fight for it and I’ll be rooting for you, you know that. But don’t keep coming at me because we’re not from the same party, I don’t owe you satisfaction. Mind your own business, man. Don’t try to be the bad guy towards me, because I’m a good person.”

Since the campaign period in this year’s municipal elections, when Marçal came in third place in the race for Mayor of São Paulo, the former coach and the former president opened fire on each other in statements. This Wednesday, the 30th, the former president said he regretted giving a medal to the former coach in June this year.

“How did the Marçal wave start? Three months ago he wanted to talk to me, I talked to him. Just him and no one else. I even gave him a medal, which is where I went wrong”, said the former president. In response, the PRTB politician told Coluna do Estadão that he will return the item.

In another exchange of barbs, Marçal demanded back the R$100,000 he invested in the former president’s campaign in the dispute against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), in 2022. Last week, Bolsonaro said that the donation “it was from the heart” and that the right “wrongly” thought he supported the PRTB politician.

“People on the right thought I was with him and I wasn’t, it wasn’t true. Unfortunately, this happened, then it was a huge headache for us to show that our candidate was the one who was already working, who had everything to continue the good work here in São Paulo and it happened”, said the former president, praising the current mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), re-elected in October.

At the end of the first round, when Marçal was left out of the dispute between Nunes and federal deputy Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), the former coach demanded a public retraction from Bolsonaro as a bargaining chip to support the current mayor, who emerged victorious in the end of the dispute. According to allies of the former president, the gesture ended any possibility of rapprochement between the two.