Brazil's Lurch To The Right

The Real Story podcast goes to Brazil to discuss why Jair Bolsonaro, a racist, misogynist, former army captain who defends the country's past dictatorship could be the next president. Are Brazilians crazy? No, there are reasons why he has become the leading candidate in the polls and the most likely winner of tomorrow's election.

The podcast features Brazilian analysts and experts, both in the country and abroad, who help put this crucial election into context and provide valuable insights about the state of Brazil's democracy. Some of the guests are confident that Brazil has institutions strong enough to weather someone as threatening as him. Others are not so sure.

Bolsonaro's rise in popularity is a reaction from many voters fed up with some of what's been happening in Brazil in the past two decades: a surge in crime to the point that it has reached record levels, economic recession and a very slow recovery, and widespread corruption scandals involving the ruling party, the PT, or Worker's Party of former presidents Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva—now in jail—and Dilma Roussef, who was impeached.

As the guests in the program point out, Bolsonaro represents many things. On the one hand, he has conservative values in a very Catholic and increasingly evangelical nation. He has been a politician for more than 30 years, but he is seen as a genuine man and an anti-establishment figure. He promotes a liberal economic agenda, a hard line against rampant crime—including flirting with the justification of extrajudicial killings—and a zero tolerance speech against corruption. 

He is the latest nationalist strong man with a nostalgic and idealised version of Brazil's military role in history.