Luis Miguel: "Removing the traitor of Brazil from the presidency is only the first step."

By Luis Felipe Miguel, in his Facebook

Bolsonaro's game is transparent: (1) to continue disrupting measures to combat the pandemic; (2) to absolve himself of any responsibility for the tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths because, after all, he didn't issue the decree to reopen commerce; (3) to say that governors and mayors are to blame for unemployment and business failures. Then, in 2022, he will run for reelection with an opposition discourse.

This is a path where lives don't matter, the country doesn't matter, nothing matters except immediate political gain.

He shirks the responsibilities of the office he holds, hinders the work of those who are willing to do it, and intends to profit from both the deaths and the economic crisis. Less death and less misery are not in his interest. Something so ignoble, so amoral, that it is truly typical of Bolsonaro.

There is no doubt for anyone that Bolsonaro's continued presence in office is a major factor in worsening the health crisis. We are multiplying the chaos in the health system, the sick and the dead by a factor – of 2, 3, 5, 10? – by leaving the single most important position in the Republic in the hands of a fifth columnist for the virus.

It seems that Bolsonaro's opponents are also guided by political calculation. Removing him from office now would reinforce his narrative that he bears no responsibility for the consequences of the pandemic in Brazil. By portraying him as a "victim of the system," it would consolidate his leadership among his followers.

Because anyone who is guided by shallow political calculations at a time like this proves that they lack the stature to be a political leader.

We are still at the beginning of the upward curve. There is still time to avoid the worst, with sensible lockdown measures and a comprehensive plan to guarantee income and employment.

Removing the traitor of Brazil from the presidency is only the first step.