Alckmin jokes about Lula’s scolding and posts Road Runner meme: “Foot on the board”

After being publicly asked by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to “be more agile” and “talk more” with Congress, vice-president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) responded to the PT member with a meme published on X (formerly Twitter ) this Tuesday, 23. “President Lula asked to speed up. Keep it up!” says the humorous message, which displays the vice-president’s face in the roadrunner cartoon character.

In the image caption, Alckmin justified the president’s demands. “He has every reason to demand that his government commit to accelerating negotiations with Congress”, says the vice-president, who holds the position of Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services.

The use of memes is common on Alckmin’s social network. Since the beginning of the government, the vice president’s social media team has relied on a relaxed approach to attract engagement from followers.

Lula publicly charged ministers

This Monday, the 22nd, Lula publicly demanded more commitment from his main ministers in political articulations with Congress. In addition to Alckmin, the PT member suggested that Fernando Haddad, Minister of Finance, invest more in dealings with the Legislature “instead of reading a book”. There were also charges against Wellington Dias, holder of the Social Development portfolio, and Rui Costa, chief minister of the Civil House.

“Talk with bench A, with bench B. It’s difficult, but we can’t complain because politics is exactly like that. Either you do it like this or you don’t get into politics,” said Lula during the launch event of the Believe program, at the Palácio of the Plateau.

Government tries to avoid ‘bomb agenda’

The Lula administration faces an impasse in political coordination with Congress leaders and runs the risk of witnessing the Legislature approving a “bomb agenda” for the government’s public accounts. According to federal management calculations, projects being processed in Congress could generate additional expenditure of R$70 billion to the public coffers.

The project with the biggest impact on the budget is a proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) sponsored by Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), president of the Senate, dubbed the PEC of the Quinquênio. If approved, the text grants members of the Judiciary and the Public Ministry the right to receive a bonus for every five years of work, the five-year period. The payment of this bonus is budgeted at R$40 billion, according to government calculations.

Political organizer remains ‘just stubborn’

The president’s demand for more commitment to political articulation coincides with the conflict between the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and Minister Alexandre Padilha, of Institutional Relations. Lira called the holder of the portfolio, responsible for the relationship between government and Congress, “personally disaffected” and “incompetent”.

The president of the Chamber is pressing for the Executive to change the head of Institutional Relations, but Lula shielded his ally and said that Padilha would remain in the position for a “long time” “just out of stubbornness”. The Minister of Institutional Relations minimized the conflict and stated that the conflict had been “overcome”.