In September, Brazil had a severe corruption probe exposing its nationalized oil company Petrobras; it was seemingly the largest graft investigation in Latin America’s political history. The operation allowed Petrobras to funnel capital via construction corporations to politicians for government contracts. About 48 of the 81 Brazilian senators and about 171 of 513 members of the lower house are accused of crimes. In approaching Brazil’s recent election, voters were faced with a dilemma akin to that of Americans in the 2016 presidential elections. Brazilians faced that choice with 553,000 homicides in their country this past decade, accounting for $120 billion in damages alone in the past 20 years. This likely helped in the election of Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, who, like President Donald Trump, cast himself as a law-and-order candidate. That said, their similarities do not end there.
There are nationalists, either with authoritarian tendencies or who are actual authoritarians, using the internet, whether with bot armies or actual users contracted to tweet at political or personal opposition, with the goal of influencing election outcomes. Groups like the Russian Internet Research Agency were successful at this in the 2016 elections. Unfortunately, in the ethos of strong personalities and demagogues, nationalist cyber authoritarians strive for hyperpolarizing tribalism. In my opinion, leaders like Xi Jinping in China, Narendra Modi in India, Joko Widodo in Indonesia, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Trump, who exhibit authoritarian behavior, either directly or indirectly benefit from this tribalism. These are also, conveniently, the leaders of the five most populous countries on earth.
“My advice and I do it: I cheat on my taxes as much as possible. If I don’t need to pay anything, I don’t pay.” Sounds like Trump on the campaign trail, right? Wrong — that is a quote from Brazilian President-elect Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain. Analogous to Trump, he is popular on Twitter, mentioned in 35 percent of Brazilian tweets regarding the election. Bolsonaro’s hashtag and moniker is Mito, which means “legend.” Similarly, Trump supporters have the “MAGA” hashtag on social media platforms and some call him “God Emperor.” Also, both Bolsonaro and Trump were successful in exploiting discontent among the working class and courting a conservative, evangelical base.
Bolsonaro, like Trump, has fomented violence and bigotry toward minorities. When speaking about an Afro-Brazilian minority in Brazil, he commented, “I think they don’t even manage to procreate anymore.” Trump, when speaking about Haitian, El Salvadorian and African migrants, said, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump is also reported as saying, “Laziness is a trait in blacks.” Racism illustrates their rotten morality and how much race matters to Trump and Bolsonaro.
Both men are nostalgic for the ethos when minorities were vehemently discriminated against and when there was an abhorrence toward the LGBTQ community. Trump has further shown his prejudice by attempting to define gender at birth by genitalia. Similarly, Bolsonaro has said, “I’m not going to combat or discriminate, but if I see two men kissing on the street, I’m going to hit them.” If that isn’t a contradiction and homophobic bigotry, then what is? The solution to fringe characters rising in polls from racially charged and hyperbolic statements is having an informed populace that will reduce ignorance and bigotry. There must be a U.N. organization for news literacy and educating people throughout the world, creating an informed global populace.
Mendel Litzman is a junior majoring in political science.