Flirting With Fascism

Brazilians go back to the ballot box this week for the next round of their presidential elections. The man leading the polls for weeks now is Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party. He’s known as Brazil’s Donald Trump, a far-right candidate with a fondness for the country’s old military dictatorship and a history of inflammatory comments against women and LGBT people. Bolsonaro has gained popularity by promising to end Brazil’s rampant corruption and stamp out violent crime.

On the podcast this week, we hear from the journalist Brian Winter, one of the few Americans who has met Bolsonaro face to face. Winter followed Bolsonaro’s rise for years while serving as a foreign correspondent in South America. He is now the editor in chief of Americas Quarterly.