He’s been called “The world’s most repulsive politician.”
His controversial statements have been described as sexist, homophobic, and racist.
His Government’s recent attempts to alter data related to the coronavirus have lent
credibility to those who had previously called him “authoritarian.”
All of these criticisms and more had already been leveled at Jair Bolsonaro before late
2018, when he won the Brazilian presidential election in a landslide.
So how did he do it?
Bolsonaro has made a career of having this personality that's this very alpha male, macho,
"I'm going to show you," refusing to bow down to critics kind of attitude.
A lot of people make the comparison to Bolsonaro's rise to the rise of Trump
In a broad brush kind of way
that is a totally fair comparison.
It was a populist movement that swept Bolsonaro into office, and it was a rejection of the
status quo... "and so that's an honor to give that to you"
Even if apt, however, the comparison may not give Bolsonaro’s own electoral success enough
credit.
Whereas Donald Trump won the US election while losing the popular vote, Bolsonaro was elected
with around 55% of the vote in the final round
Unfortunately for him, that popularity stands in stark contrast to today.
He now faces an economic crisis, cratering poll numbers, and a coronavirus outbreak that
is the worst in the region.
The question now is whether Bolsonaro can leverage his outspoken style and army of dedicated
supporters to salvage his presidency.
Bolsonaro grew up with five brothers in the Southern Brazilian town of Eldorado.
After 2 years in Rio De Janeiro City Council, he began his 27 year career in congress, and
his ascent to national fame.
During this time, he would cement some of his beliefs in the public eye.
On crime, he said in 2017 “a policeman who doesn’t kill isn’t a policeman.”
On LGBT rights, he said in 2011 “No father is capable of loving a gay son” He told
fellow member of Congress that he “would not rape her, she is too
ugly.”
In July of 2018, he announced his candidacy for President with the slogan “Brazil Above
Everything, God Above Everyone.”
He proved immediately adept at building an unprecedented coalition of voters.
So, that grouping of the alpha male, firearm ownership, the evangelical, and then the military,
that has become his base.
And they didn't used to be together.
So, he's truly transformed the landscape of Brazilian politics in a way that, it's hard
to see that going away.
Bolsonaro also picked the perfect time to portray himself as the anti-corruption candidate.
Operation Car Wash, the largest anti-corruption effort in Brazil’s history had begun only
a few years before, and had since ensnared many important figures in the country’s
political left, including two former Brazilian presidents.
Bolsonaro took office as the 38th President of Brazil
at the beginning of 2019.
He immediately made good on one campaign promise, stripping Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency
of the responsibility to identify and demarcate indigenous lands.
Indigenous people in Brazil for several decades have been really aggressively
pushing to get legal rights to their land and title.
He specifically said when he was running for election, that if he was elected he would
not allow indigenous people to get any more land in Brazil and basically would shut down
all of those processes.
That was the first thing he did when he came into office, which is a very symbolic way
to indicate what your position is.
When the Amazon experienced record-breaking wildfires in mid-2019, Bolsonaro downplayed
the damage, calling the data lies and firing the head of the government organization that
produced it.
After international outcry, he dispatched soldiers and allocated funds to fight the
fires.
But Bolsonaro’s main focus, and what swept him into office, was his promise to kickstart
Latin America’s largest economy.
...GDP in Bolsonaro’s first year in office grew at only 1.1 percent, down from 1.3 percent
in each of the previous two years.
His signature accomplishment so far has been a pension reform bill that was passed with
Congressional approval.
He’s also spent his time in office stoking increasingly larger fights with the press.
the relationship with the media is really antagonistic, in a way that hasn't
been seen before, and at a temperature level that hasn't been seen before.
Simone Iglesias: Bolsonaro stimulates his supporters to fight with journalists.
And every day it's the escalation of problems and aggressivity in front of his residence.
And because of that, all important TV channels and newspapers suspend this coverage
because it became too aggressive.
Now Bolsonaro faces a host of problems threatening his administration.
he has created a political crisis on top of a public health crisis and a looming
economic crisis.
Most economists forecast that Latin America is headed into a terrible scenario for the
next year, possibly the next decade.
he has multiplied the crises by pushing people
out of his own government, out of his own cabinet
Brazil has one of the highest death tolls of any nation from coronavirus, and on many
days has the most confirmed new cases of any country in the world.
Bolsonaro has refused to endorse social distancing and
expressed enthusiasm for using chloroquine to treat the virus.
In early June, Bolsonaro’s government was accused of trying to cover up data related
to the coronavirus when the health ministry pulled the entire historic database for Covid-19
from its website
The ministry has since relented and republished some historical information amid a growing
backlash The President has downplayed the threat of
the virus, calling it “just a little flu” and very infrequently dons a mask.
The president in Brazil doesn't have power to lock down and forbid the shops
and commerce here.
But, the example of Bolsonaro is really strong. Thousands of people follow Bolsonaro.
And when he said, "it's unnecessary to use mask" for example-
Thousands of people follow.
But even putting aside his handling of Brazil’s Coronavirus outbreak, another threat looms
in the resignation of Bolsonaro’s justice minister, Sergio Moro.
Moro is a national hero in Brazil, having been the head investigative judge for Operation
Car Wash.
Flash forward to Moro resigning, and in his resignation claiming the reason he was resigning
was because of corrupt practices of the President.
That's totally damning to the credibility of Bolsonaro.
the short version is that Moro said that he caught Bolsonaro trying to pressure him
to change the head of the Police Chief of Rio de Janeiro and the head of police for
the federal government.
Moro believes the reason Bolsonaro was pushing to make those changes is because Bolsonaro’s
own children, his three sons, are under investigation for criminal acts in Rio de Janeiro and at
the federal level.
Moro and Bolsonaro have declined to comment for this video, and Bolsonaro and his sons
have separately denied any wrongdoing in the matter.
Regardless, Bolsonaro’s approval rating has taken a hit in light of the recent scandals,
his supporters love him.
There are diehard Bolsonaro fans in Brazil.
They truly believe that the media is attacking him, that all of the criticisms
are just trying to bring down the only guy who is trying to get rid of the corruption
that Brazil has been riddled with for the past several decades.