Honest, sincere, courageous: this is how Bolsonarism likes to see itself. Reality usually proves exactly the opposite, as underlined by the small visit to the Hungarian embassy: the next time I feel like chatting with one of my friends from the neighborhood, I’ll stay at his house. I will have you find, if available, a guest room, bring a coffee maker and order a pizza. Maybe you’ll even get some pajamas. Even though I have my own house, not far away, where the lights work, water flows from the taps and it doesn’t rain from the roof, since I’m there, why not stay longer, preferably two nights.
What draws most attention to Jair Bolsonaro, his sons and his allies is the discrepancy between the accusations and reality. Sublime ideals are carried as monstrances, honesty and truth are proclaimed, in contrast to the wickedness and hypocrisy of political rivals. But they don’t stand up to any scrutiny. It is the typical story of those who preach water and drink wine, as a German proverb says.
Bolsonaro won the 2018 elections on the promise of not being corrupt and fighting corruption in his government. Today it is clear that it was never about this, but rather about enriching his clan, as demonstrated by the jewelery and watch scandals, the splits, the purchase of luxury properties, the close relationships with militiamen, the corruption involving several of his ministers and the entry into politics of his fourth son, who, at just 25 years of age, has already been indicted for false ideology and money laundering by the Department for the fight against corruption and organized crime (Furniture) of the Civil Police of the Federal District. The fruit never falls far from the tree.
Bolsonaro claimed to be a true democrat who, unlike the STF, will respect and implement the will of the Brazilian people, after all he would be elected by the people. But the moment the people decided for someone else, respect for the people ended and Bolsonaro, according to everything we know, tried to stay in power through military intervention.
Escape to the embassy
The emptied concept of “homeland!” Bolsonaro willingly shouts it, as he sold a Petrobras refinery to Saudi Arabia for a price well below the market price, as underlined by the General Comptroller of the Union (CGU).
Bolsonarists also like to talk about the Christian God. His idol, however, interprets the ten commandments very flexibly: “Thou shalt not kill”, says the sixth. “A policeman who doesn’t kill is not a policeman!”, says Bolsonaro, and “giving two shots or 15 shots to a marginal person is the same thing for me”. Let’s not even begin to talk about Bolsonaro’s relationship to the central Christian idea of loving others. He has demonstrated his contempt for the lives of others during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Let’s move on to two central points of Bolsonarist thought: masculinity and truth. Traditional models are the basis for the formation of the identity of the Bolsonarist movement, whose standard repertoire includes mockery of different life projects. It starts from the idea of masculinity, obviously, that a man must have courage: he must not show fear, he must face unpleasant situations, go into battle with courage and fight for his beliefs.
And what does Bolsonaro do when the siege tightens? He takes refuge in the embassy of his far-right friend Viktor Orbán, where he hopes to escape an arrest warrant from the Brazilian authorities. It’s the same behavior he demonstrated in early 2023, when he stayed in the United States for three months waiting to see how things would develop in Brazil after his supporters invaded Praça dos Três Poderes on the 8th. January.
Unlike Trump
You can think what you want about Bolsonaro’s idol, Donald Trump, but Trump faces all legal proceedings against him and does not flee abroad or to a foreign embassy for coffee. Bolsonaro’s alleged masculine courage is something else entirely. His eternal adversary was more courageous: Lula faced his accusers, went to prison and came back intact. Bolsonaro and his children, on the other hand, constantly complain about how unfair everyone would be to them. Very masculine!
Bolsonaro has not only proven himself to be a coward, but also a ridiculous liar. Probably not even his blindest supporters, who generally believe all the nonsense they are told, believe that the visit to the embassy, a few days after Bolsonaro’s passport was collected, was purely to socialize with right-wing friends. It is obvious that Bolsonaro wanted to wait and see what would happen so that, in the event of an arrest warrant, he would be in a place where the Federal Police could not enter.
Truth, courage, transparency, homeland: these are just empty words for Bolsonaro, which he uses when it seems appropriate to him. He doesn’t know what to do with their meanings. “You will know them by their fruits,” says the New Testament. After the embassy episode, to know Bolsonaro by his actions is to once again encounter a cowardly and lying man – who however is adored by millions of Brazilians who want to believe that he is the “savior of Brazil”.
But that’s another long story.
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Philipp Lichterbeck wanted to open a new chapter in his life when he moved from Berlin to Rio in 2012. Since then he has been writing articles about Brazil and other Latin American countries for German, Swiss and Austrian newspapers. He travels frequently between Germany, Brazil and other countries on the American continent. Follow him on Twitter at @Lichterbeck_Rio.
The text reflects the opinion of the author, not necessarily that of DW.
Source: Terra
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