Bolsonaro is the armed centrist bloc, says Celso Rocha de Barros.
Celso Rocha de Barros, a columnist for Folha de S.Paulo and PhD in sociology from the University of Oxford, writes that the occupant of the Palácio do Planalto (Presidential Palace) is buying off the centrist bloc to approve authoritarian agendas and try to avoid impeachment.
247 - "Former congressman Roberto Jefferson posted a photo of himself holding a rifle and said he was ready to defend Brazil from communism under the orders of Jair Bolsonaro. Unwittingly, he produced the best summary of Bolsonarism so far: Bolsonarism is the moment when Brazilian corruption went from theft to armed robbery," writes Celso Rocha de Barros in Folha de S.Paulo.
"Previous governments bought off the centrist bloc by circumventing the rules of democracy, but they preserved democracy."
"Unlike the PT, for example, Bolsonaro could have, if he wanted to, built an ideologically cohesive parliamentary majority. The left has always been a minority in Parliament, even when it won the presidential election. But the current National Congress is the most conservative of all time."
"If he wanted to, Bolsonaro could have assembled a cleaner government, not because he was more honest – never, under any circumstances – but because there are many congressmen who defend conservative agendas more or less for free."
"Bolsonaro is buying off the centrist bloc to approve authoritarian agendas and, above all, to avoid impeachment. He knows that the Republic will wake up any day now. And that, when it wakes up, it will want to know why it has ten thousand fewer children."