The Trump Of The Tropics: Why Brazil’s Controversial Bolsonaro Is Still Reigning – By Giulia Campos (IB Times) / Oct 31 2021
In 2019, Brazil broke an almost three-decade-old tradition of electing leftist presidents by voting for a Latin American version of Donald Trump: retired military officer Jair Messias Bolsonaro.
An unabashed racist, misogynistic and anti-LGBT candidate, Bolsonaro gained prominence as a controversial politician who praised Brazil’s history of military dictatorship. Despite his questionable ideologies, he won over 55.2% of Brazilians as he vowed to make the much-needed changes thousands had been urging, such as ending the nation’s long history of gang violence and political corruption.
Brazilians had grown tired of leftist politicians who reigned the country since the end of the dictatorship in 1985 and developed deep-rooted resentment for the status quo. Like Trump, Bolsonaro promised to make Brazil better and become the “defender of the Constitution, democracy and liberty” that was in jeopardy after two years of rising crime and political and economic turmoil.
Bolsonaro’s narrative of public security won many Brazilians over and people had the chance to vote not just for him, but for a candidate that was the opposite of what the nation had been experiencing for three decades.
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