...And now it's Brazil

[Kraken]

Do we really not have a "death of democracy" thread? (Outside of the US, I mean.) I guess I'll leave this here, then: Brazil is about to fall to the authoritarians.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilians on Sunday expressed their disgust with politics as usual and endorsed an iron-fist approach to fighting crime and corruption by giving far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro an ample lead in the first round of the presidential election.

Bolsonaro stunned the political establishment by rising to the top of a crowded presidential field despite a long history of offensive remarks about women, black people, and gay people. He also offered an emphatic defense of the country’s old military dictatorship.
...
While several of Brazil’s neighbors have steered to the right politically in recent years, a victory by Bolsonaro, a populist who backs President Trump, would be a seismic conservative shift.

Critics of Bolsonaro and political analysts have watched his rise with alarm, fearing he could become an authoritarian leader in the mold of Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines.

He's got to win a runoff, but nobody else was even close in the first round.

[Paingod]

Sounds like they're gearing up to party like it's 1985... their last military dictatorship?

[El Guapo]

Yeah, I was reading the NYT article about the guy yesterday. Pretty grim - this guy sounds like Duterte (sp?), and even worse than Trump. He fell short of an outright majority, so there's still the run-off, but with him having gotten 46% of the vote in the initial round, sounds like prospects for beating him in the final round are slim.

Pretty depressing.

[GreenGoo]

I'm normally ok with foreign countries getting what they deserve when they support a despot, but it's a little too close to home these days.

[malchior]

I referred to this in the SCOTUS thread. This shows how much global leadership matters. Now that the US has toppled--at least for now--there is pretty much no one to step in. Some point at Macron or Merkel as stand-ins but neither nation really has the reach to do it. And we are seeing that Democracy without strong controls requires adherence to norms. It doesn't help that Brazil has massive wealth distribution problems and high levels of gun ownership that contribute to their insane crime and murder rates.

[Remus West]

It doesn't help that Brazil has massive wealth distribution problems and high levels of gun ownership that contribute to their insane crime and murder rates.

That sounds familiar some how. Can't quite put my finger on it. Oh well. I'm sure it will come to me later.

[El Guapo]

It doesn't help that Brazil has massive wealth distribution problems and high levels of gun ownership that contribute to their insane crime and murder rates.

That sounds familiar some how. Can't quite put my finger on it. Oh well. I'm sure it will come to me later.

What hit home in the NYT article was how the Brazilian right wing party was resistant to him until he named as his VP candidate a libertarian candidate, and so once they believed he would undo pro-union and leftist policies they came around to the guy. Pretty much the same thing as Trump - the GOP establishment and conservative institutions were resistant to him only until they became convinced that he would actually implement right wing policies.

[malchior]

I

It doesn't help that Brazil has massive wealth distribution problems and high levels of gun ownership that contribute to their insane crime and murder rates.

That sounds familiar some how. Can't quite put my finger on it. Oh well. I'm sure it will come to me later.

To be completely fair - they've attempted to massively restricted firearms. It just hasn't worked there. Guess the government saw 'City of God' and thought maybe they ought to try to fix things. Good intentions and all but it ended up being the right's favorite poster child for the futility of gun control.

[Holman]

It appears that Brazil has elected the authoritarian Bolsonaro.

All over the world, the lights are going out.

[em2nought]

It appears that Brazil has elected the authoritarian Bolsonaro.

All over the world, the lights are going out.

Astronomers will be happy.

[Carpet_pissr]

They actually call him the "Tropical Trump"

[El Guapo]

By coincidence I was in a Brazilian restaurant for dinner this evening when the news came in. People started clapping and cheering. Several of the staff had Bolsonaro t-shirts on.

I should eat there again a couple years from now and take the temperature on him then.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

There's a lot of gnashing of teeth about this election on my biology-heavy Twitter feed. Apparently, Bolsonaro wants to privatize the tropical rain forest in Brazil. What could go wrong?

[Paingod]

There's a lot of gnashing of teeth about this election on my biology-heavy Twitter feed. Apparently, Bolsonaro wants to privatize the tropical rain forest in Brazil. What could go wrong?

4 years from now: What rain forest?

[GreenGoo]

4 years from now: Mr. Burns' voice "What rain forest?"

ftfy

[Isgrimnur]

Can we rename the thread to: ''...And now it's Brazzil", or perhaps the "Brazzil Mega Thread"?

[Holman]

Can we rename the thread to: ''...And now it's Brazzil", or perhaps the "Brazzil Mega Thread"?

"Brazzil Mega Thread: My Cats Have Been Disappeared."

[GreenGoo]

Can we rename the thread to: ''...And now it's Brazzil", or perhaps the "Brazzil Mega Thread"?

"Brazzil Mega Thread: My Cats Have Been Disappeared."

I did not understand Isgrim's post until now, even with the mega thread appendage.

[Isgrimnur]

We all have those days.

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

How did the unthinkable happen? Bolsonaro surfed a tsunami of popular anger and despair that swept away the entire Brazilian political system, along with the old party leaders. He was able to do so because of the people’s growing suspicion that representative democracy is incapable of delivering what they need. This disaffection was compounded by a brutal economic recession in Brazil, the longest in our history. Unemployment soared, urban violence reached staggering heights — nearly 64,000 homicides in 2017 or 175 deaths per day. Organized crime spiraled out of control. Political parties, especially the left-wing Workers’ Party (PT), floundered in corruption.

It was no wonder that the political system collapsed. Of the four presidents elected after the 1988 Constitution took effect, two were impeached, one is in jail for corruption and the other is me. So far, the sweeping anti-corruption investigation, known as Operation Car Wash, has resulted in the indictments of a former PT treasurer, a former presidential chief of staff, the president of the lower house of congress, a government minister and several state governors. They have been charged with corruption or bribery or both, with several sentenced to years in jail.

Spoiler:

Fernando Henrique Cardoso was the president of Brazil from 1995 to 2002. He is a member of the Berggruen Institute’s 21st Century Council.

[GreenGoo]

WaPo

How did the unthinkable happen? Bolsonaro surfed a tsunami of popular anger and despair that swept away the entire Brazilian political system, along with the old party leaders. He was able to do so because of the people’s growing suspicion that representative democracy is incapable of delivering what they need. This disaffection was compounded by a brutal economic recession in Brazil, the longest in our history. Unemployment soared, urban violence reached staggering heights — nearly 64,000 homicides in 2017 or 175 deaths per day. Organized crime spiraled out of control. Political parties, especially the left-wing Workers’ Party (PT), floundered in corruption.

It was no wonder that the political system collapsed. Of the four presidents elected after the 1988 Constitution took effect, two were impeached, one is in jail for corruption and the other is me. So far, the sweeping anti-corruption investigation, known as Operation Car Wash, has resulted in the indictments of a former PT treasurer, a former presidential chief of staff, the president of the lower house of congress, a government minister and several state governors. They have been charged with corruption or bribery or both, with several sentenced to years in jail.

Spoiler:

Fernando Henrique Cardoso was the president of Brazil from 1995 to 2002. He is a member of the Berggruen Institute’s 21st Century Council.

We know why Brazil did what they did.

What's America's excuse? They had a black man in the WH for 8 years? The humanity.

[El Guapo]

WaPo

How did the unthinkable happen? Bolsonaro surfed a tsunami of popular anger and despair that swept away the entire Brazilian political system, along with the old party leaders. He was able to do so because of the people’s growing suspicion that representative democracy is incapable of delivering what they need. This disaffection was compounded by a brutal economic recession in Brazil, the longest in our history. Unemployment soared, urban violence reached staggering heights — nearly 64,000 homicides in 2017 or 175 deaths per day. Organized crime spiraled out of control. Political parties, especially the left-wing Workers’ Party (PT), floundered in corruption.

It was no wonder that the political system collapsed. Of the four presidents elected after the 1988 Constitution took effect, two were impeached, one is in jail for corruption and the other is me. So far, the sweeping anti-corruption investigation, known as Operation Car Wash, has resulted in the indictments of a former PT treasurer, a former presidential chief of staff, the president of the lower house of congress, a government minister and several state governors. They have been charged with corruption or bribery or both, with several sentenced to years in jail.

Spoiler:

Fernando Henrique Cardoso was the president of Brazil from 1995 to 2002. He is a member of the Berggruen Institute’s 21st Century Council.

We know why Brazil did what they did.

What's America's excuse? They had a black man in the WH for 8 years? The humanity.

I agree, though in our partial defense, Trump got fewer votes, and so he's President in large part because we are cursed with an archaic and indefensible electoral system. Whereas Bolsonaro clearly won the election outright, by a significant majority.

[Carpet_pissr]

We know why Brazil did what they did.

What's America's excuse? They had a black man in the WH for 8 years? The humanity.

You joke, but sadly, yes, that is certainly part of it. Also:

- lack of a decent voter turnout by moderates of both stripes
- a steady diet of fear and loathing towards non-whites fed to the rabid base of the Republican party over the past 8 years or so
- the increasing inequality x factor: wealthy to super rich voting for the party that represents their economic interests best (actual policy), and poorish to super poor voting for the party to burn it all down (rhetoric). Also throw in the economic middle voting for their side of the culture war (this was a big part)
- indifference in civic duty and politics in general by a large swath of the modern American population
- maybe a sprinkle of "we LURVE celebrities! Let's vote one into office!" I try not to think about that one too much, because mental anguish, but I fear it really had some tangible effect in this case.

[El Guapo]

We know why Brazil did what they did.

What's America's excuse? They had a black man in the WH for 8 years? The humanity.

You joke, but sadly, yes, that is certainly part of it. Also:

- lack of a decent voter turnout by moderates of both stripes
- a steady diet of fear and loathing fed to the rabid extreme base of the Republican party over the past 8 years or so
- the increasing inequality x factor: wealthy to super rich voting for the party that represents their economic interests best, and poorish to super poor voting for the party to burn it all down. Also throw in the economic middle voting for their side of the culture war
- indifference in civic duty and politics in general by a large swath of the population
- maybe a sprinkle of "we LURVE celebrities! Let's vote one into office!"

And don't forget the Comey letter right before the election.

[Carpet_pissr]

And don't forget the Comey letter right before the election.

Jesus, how could I have left that out. I think Trump probably might have maybe won even without it, but certainly yes, a contributing factor. Really it was an unholy, putrid, gooey soup of reasons, none of them very flattering to our country if we self-reflect a bit on it.

[GreenGoo]

Oh I get it, but the fact is that the GOP voters picked Drumpf as their candidate and 62 million people voted for him to be president.

That's a lot of people who willingly and intentionally put Drumpf in the WH. Even if space aliens mind controlled 30 million people, that still leaves another 32 million who have some 'splainin' to do.

[Kraken]

We know why Brazil did what they did.

What's America's excuse? They had a black man in the WH for 8 years? The humanity.

You joke, but sadly, yes, that is certainly part of it. Also:

- lack of a decent voter turnout by moderates of both stripes
- a steady diet of fear and loathing fed to the rabid extreme base of the Republican party over the past 8 years or so
- the increasing inequality x factor: wealthy to super rich voting for the party that represents their economic interests best, and poorish to super poor voting for the party to burn it all down. Also throw in the economic middle voting for their side of the culture war
- indifference in civic duty and politics in general by a large swath of the population
- maybe a sprinkle of "we LURVE celebrities! Let's vote one into office!"

And don't forget the Comey letter right before the election.

Her emails! A large slice of the electorate believed that however bad Trump might be, Hillary was even more corrupt. Most of them still think so.

Brazilians (I think) knowingly voted their democracy out of existence; Americans were duped.

[El Guapo]

We know why Brazil did what they did.

What's America's excuse? They had a black man in the WH for 8 years? The humanity.

You joke, but sadly, yes, that is certainly part of it. Also:

- lack of a decent voter turnout by moderates of both stripes
- a steady diet of fear and loathing fed to the rabid extreme base of the Republican party over the past 8 years or so
- the increasing inequality x factor: wealthy to super rich voting for the party that represents their economic interests best, and poorish to super poor voting for the party to burn it all down. Also throw in the economic middle voting for their side of the culture war
- indifference in civic duty and politics in general by a large swath of the population
- maybe a sprinkle of "we LURVE celebrities! Let's vote one into office!"

And don't forget the Comey letter right before the election.

Her emails! A large slice of the electorate believed that however bad Trump might be, Hillary was even more corrupt. Most of them still think so.

Brazilians (I think) knowingly voted their democracy out of existence; Americans were duped.

And a big part of what laid the groundwork for Trump is conservative party-line media, that can pretty successfully bake in an alternate reality for anywhere from 30% - 40% of the population. God knows what we can do about that mess.

[Carpet_pissr]

Brazilians (I think) knowingly voted their democracy out of existence; Americans were duped.

Completely disagree, there. I think plenty if not most that voted for the O-Turd knew exactly who and what he was.