Mussolini made the trains run on time, but that didn't make him a "good choice". Things may be looking up for Brazil if you're a corporation (especially one looking for unrestrained exploitation of natural resources) or a member of the ethnic majority. Otherwise you're fucked[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jair_Bolsonaro#Views_on_the_Br...

I know very little about Brazil or Bolsonaro but one thing I read which shocked me was the statistic that 30% of the citizens of Rio were caught in cross fire in the last year [1]. If that's accurate it's mind blowing and really helps me to understand why Brazilians want a political change and somebody (perceived to be) tough on crime. It's like there are problems with the lower levels of the hierarchy of needs, and only after safety and stability are established will people care about the environment, liberal ideals, or fair treatment of people.

1 - https://www.presstv.com/DetailFr/2018/04/02/557207/Brazil-Ri...

> If that's accurate it's mind blowing and really helps me to understand why Brazilians want a political change and somebody (perceived to be) tough on crime.

That's understandable, and I'm certainly in no position to judge the people of Brazil. However it's possible for both of these to be true:

* Brazil is facing a public safety crisis that requires immediate, drastic action.

* Bolsanaro is a proto-fascist opportunist capitalizing on the crisis to rise to power.

I agree, and, knowing little about Brazil, that's what I think is happening. The thought behind my response was that I wanted to stress that the motivation behind electing Bolsonaro may be more serious than making trains run on time.

Mussolini was a better choice then many socialist back then. His power was massively checked and only because of development in Germany did it end up as it did.

The new guy is of course a major asshat, but government before was making lots of really bad choices as well and Brazil was not going in a good direction.

The important thing is to not let anybody get enough power to remove the whole institutional machinery.

Being bought by China? I wonder what the ultraliberal minister of the economy Paulo Guedes thinks about not doing deals with China.

Could you explain how voting a criminal into power is going to prevent him from having defenseless prey?

You've got to be joking... He's a genocidal, homophobic, racist piece of shit, borderline dictator. Read this: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jair_Bolsonaro, if you agree with anything on there, you really have to rethink your entire life

I wonder how one can be genocidal without having killed anyone, homophobic without having persecuted LGBT, racist without having defended racial thesis. Has Bolsonaro said ugly reprehensible things ? Yes he did. But that is his opinion at best.

Bringing these empty accusations wont prove your point neither add to the discussion.

> Yes he did. But that is his opinion at best.

What does this mean? We're not talking about a random Youtuber here. He's the leader of the country. Presumably his opinion will influence his policy decisions (in fact he's promised as much)[1].

When somebody tells you they're going to kill you and they're holding a gun - it's wise to believe them even if they've never murdered before.

[1] https://globalnews.ca/news/4606489/jair-bolsonaro-beliefs-br...

Have you read his quotes? This guy really does not shy from calling for blood. That's pure Nazi shit. "empty accusations" is quite dishonest as he literally calls for death of _thousands_ of his fellow citizens.

It is convenient that those are all in English, but that casts suspicion on them. FWIW though, I don't object to everything on that list.

There are no perfect politicians, and they are always presented in the worst possible light by their opponents. Times change; you could look back at old quotes and then conclude that our Hillary Clinton hates same-sex marriage and immigrants.

Picking from the non-ideal choices actually available, Brazil did very well.

> Picking from the non-ideal choices actually available, Brazil did very well.

Do you honestly believe that there will be another democratic election in Brazil under Bolsonaro's rule?

> "We're going to shoot all the PT (Workers' Party) supporters in Acre." - Jair Bolsonaro (1 September 2018)

I'm not so sure.

Do you know the context for that, or if the translation is any good?

Sarcasm is a thing.

Are you for real? I don't care about other "non-ideal" choices, once you (repeatedly!) call for someone's death in public you should be (at least!) banned from running for any public office, period. The false equivalence with HRC when the other side does pure Nazi lets-kill-some-people-to-solve-our-problems shit paints you in reaally bad light.