A few weeks ago, The Economist released an issue with Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on the cover. Comparing him to Donald Trump, the magazine said that the Brazilian is preparing to tell his own “big lie” about the validity of elections if he loses. Win or lose, The Economist argued, Bolsonaro represents a “threat to democracy in Brazil”.
Over the months, Bolsonaro has repeatedly said that he can disrespect the decisions of the Brazilian Supreme Court. He harasses journalists daily and encourages his followers to take to the streets to scream for the closing of the Supreme Court and Congress. In July, he gathered foreign ambassadors in the capital, Brasília, repeating unsubstantiated untruths about the electronic voting system that Brazil has used since 1996 and often cited by the international community as a model.
