Does the new Brazilian president remind you of Trump?

Kaina Elias

Staff Writer

In the beginning of 2019, Jair Messias Bolsonaro took office as the new President of Brazil in a very balanced election against his adversary from the left size of the politics spectrum.

Bolsonaro got very popular in Brazil due his straight-forward way of saying things, not always with the best vocabulary or grammar, but always with his absolute opinion. From the outside it might look like a strong personality, but unfortunately, Bolsonaro also got famous because of his reckless and rude way of putting his mind out there. Saying things from “you don’t even deserve to be raped” to Maria do Rosario, an extreme-left politician, to “the mistake of the military dictatorship was to torture instead of killing,” the Brazilian president still had an enormous support from the people.

In the past few years, Brazil has passed through some rough times, with the unemployment rate increasing over 10%, ranking the country as 7th on unemployment in the entire world. The scandals involving politicians in Brazil have become routine, and the people as get so used to it that I, as a Brazilian, have heard from friends that “as long as the politician does not steal that much, it’s fine.”

Personally, I am not very into politics nowadays. I have chosen to focus my life and energy in other things, but it is extremely important that we all understand that even though politics might not be “our thing,” it interferes with all our lives either we like it or not. That is why I took my time to research about Bolsonaro. One of the things I found out was that he is a declared Trump’s supporter.

For those that don’t know, guns are illegal in Brazil for civilians, the opposite from the U.S. Bolsonaro intends to change that, as he believes everyone should have the right to protect themselves. It might sound legit, however for a good amount of people back in Brazil, the reality of both countries are way to different, which means that legalizing guns could make everything worst.

However, that’s not why Bolsonaro ended up being called the Brazilian version of Trump. Like stated before, Bolsonaro is famous for his comments, which are often times racists, homophobics, misogynous and sometimes even anti-democratic. Like Trump, the Braizilian president wants to withdraw Brazil from the Paris Agreement and weaken environmental regulations. Similar to Trump’s thoughts, Bolsonaro has called refugees “the scum of the world.”

It is not hard to understand where he got his nickname from. In any case, he got elected and recently was put in power. For me, my Brazilian friends and even the world there is nothing left to do but to hope that he does a job that lifts Brazil up and doesn’t discriminate anyone in the process, however, given his history, much of us don’t have such hope.