Nick Shirley Goes Inside Brazil’s Communist Victory Party

Nick Shirley joined Lula supporters in São Paulo on Sunday night as Brazil's electoral court announced the president’s fourth-term win, 51.8% to 48.2%. The day before, Nick had filmed Flávio Bolsonaro’s last rally in Rio de Janeiro. This time, he asked Lula’s supporters what they want for Brazil. Many wore communist flags and clothing, and some openly said they want communism. You can watch the full video below.

Nick asked one group, “Do you guys support communism?” They replied, “Yes, we support communism.” A man with a communist tattoo told Nick that real communism has never had a fair chance and that he remembers all the people capitalism has killed. Another supporter mentioned China, saying its model lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty and that Brazil should learn from those who made it happen.

Nick kept asking why Flávio, a senator and son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, worried them so much. One supporter called him a fascist, explaining it was because of how he uses God, family, and the Brazilian flag. Nick asked, “But what’s wrong about nationalism?” Others said Flávio would have given the Amazon to Trump. One supporter told Nick they support New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and believe Americans deserve free healthcare and a better government than Trump. Mamdani even has a fan club in São Paulo, yikes.

In the video, Nick says, “I’m not saying it was rigged, but some weird things did happen.” Just before polls closed, Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting by two hours at all still-open polling places. Zanin had been Lula’s personal lawyer before Lula appointed him to the court in 2023. Lula’s campaign asked Zanin’s court for more time because bus disruptions hit nine states, while Flávio’s campaign asked Brazil’s electoral court for extra time in four states because of storms and power outages. Lula supporters told Nick that right-wing mayors stopped buses so people couldn’t vote. In 2022, the same electoral court refused to extend voting at all.

Flávio said Zanin changed the rules in the middle of the process and pointed out that Zanin is not on the electoral court. President Trump told reporters it “looked like another rigged election.” By Monday, Flávio had stopped trying to annul the result and said he would try to disqualify Lula’s ticket instead. He still hasn’t conceded. Justice Alexandre de Moraes then ordered him to hand over his passports as part of a corruption and money-laundering investigation. Flávio didn’t comply, and Reuters and CNN report he has since left for the United States, where the State Department says it will give him a visa. Nick had joked on X that he hoped he’d make it out of the airport. In the end, it was Flávio who needed to leave.

Do you think Brazil’s election was fair? Let us know your thoughts.

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On Monday, the New York Times published a feature called “For Senegalese Street Vendors in New York, ‘Work Is Worship.’” After the Times shared it on Instagram, Nick Shirley commented, “They are breaking the law and can get a free flight back home from the government if they don’t like America. Follow the rules or get out.” He was talking about CBP Home, a federal app that pays migrants who choose to leave with a flight home and a cash stipend.

The Times introduces a vendor who shares a Bronx apartment with five others and sells sunglasses with Prada, Gucci, and Fendi logos on the sidewalk. Another vendor said he started selling wallets on Canal Street after his asylum-seeker work permit expired. A Senegalese community leader told the Times that about 10,000 Senegalese migrants crossed the southern border between March 2023 and March 2024. Nick has filmed Canal Street many times and says the vendors work without permits and don’t pay taxes. Police in the two precincts covering Canal made 908 trademark counterfeiting arrests last year, but according to City Journal, the market still hasn’t missed a day of business.

Nick’s comment about following the rules comes at a time when most major crimes in the city are still higher than before the pandemic. On Tuesday, New Yorkers will vote on Attorney General Letitia James, who has been in office since January 2019. In 40 large cities studied by the Council on Criminal Justice, violent crime last year was at or below 2019 levels, and early FBI data shows murders dropped about 18% nationwide. New York City is still working to catch up. According to Vital City's analysis of NYPD data, major crime was about 25% higher than in 2019 at midyear, and felony assaults reached 29,838 last year, which is up 44% from 2019 and the highest since 1997.

James’s office deals with little street crime, and her main case has been her civil fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump. In June, the HHS inspector general froze funding for New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which is part of James’s office. The inspector general said it ranked last among similar units in fraud convictions, even though it gets about $60 million a year in federal money and has more than 270 staff. The freeze is still in place, and James says it is political. That unit is supposed to catch cases like the more than $190 million in New York home care fraud that Nick mentioned this summer.

Her Republican opponent, Saritha Komatireddy, worked as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn for over ten years and says New York needs “a prosecutor in charge.” According to Siena’s final poll released Wednesday, James led 54% to 39%, and no Republican has won statewide in New York since 2002. Early voting continues through Sunday, and Election Day is Tuesday. No matter what, the Canal Street vendors, as Nick and Sweenie can tell you, will still be at work.

As Mayor Karen Bass caught up to City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the Los Angeles mayoral race, Nick Shirley shared a video showing an outreach cart giving out Narcan and needle kits on a city sidewalk. On X, Nick wrote, “LA is stuck deciding between a lady who uses your tax dollars for her campaign and has ties to major NGOs to ‘help’ the homeless. Or a Democratic Socialist. What a mess.”

In the video, a man is passed out on the sidewalk while an outreach worker checks if he’s still breathing and explains that anyone overdosing should get all the Narcan available. At the same cart, Nick’s friend Tommy picked up both a Narcan bag and a drug bag without being questioned. The drug bag contains 10 needles, a rubber band, alcohol swabs, cotton, a cooker, and filtered water. As mentioned in Nick’s video, “Here, kill yourself, save yourself, kill yourself, save yourself. It’s a cycle, and it’s not fair to them.”

LA County’s public health department funds and certifies programs like the one Nick filmed, which distribute syringes and naloxone throughout the county. In June, HUD removed the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s ability to apply for the main federal homelessness grant, citing fraud, but a federal judge partly blocked this in August. Since 2021, LAHSA has received over $1 billion in federal funds, according to House DOGE subcommittee chairman Tim Burchett. He called Bass to testify in September about what he described as nonprofits enriching themselves.

Regardless, this will be an interesting election especially if Nithya Raman shakes up Karen Bass.