This episode tells the story of Bolsonaro’s remarkable rise from relative poverty and obscurity to becoming a candidate to be president of Brazil in 2018. It explores how a cocktail of controversy and shock, combined with the growing power of television, turned a fringe politician, famous for little more than his offensive views, into a serious contender to lead the most powerful country in Latin America. With his sons at his side, Bolsonaro lead an extraordinary political insurgency that showed once again, the growing appeal of right-wing populism around the world. Using television as his principal medium, Bolsonaro became the voice of socially conservative Brazil. His increasingly controversial statements on gay and gender rights, crime, and democracy turned him into a favourite of TV talk shows looking for controversy and allowed him to start building a more national profile.
The second episode tells the story of Bolsonaro’s extraordinary electoral campaign from the fringes of Brazilian politics to the presidency of Brazil. It is a story that shows the remarkable power of social media in transforming the political fortunes of a candidate no-one believed had any chance of victory.
Coming to power on a platform of radical, populist change, Bolsonaro sets out to deliver for his base from the beginning. Determined to commercially exploit the Amazon rainforest – whatever the cost – the next four years have a profound effect on Brazil and the rest of the world.
