In today’s issue: Bolsonaro sparks crisis after golden shower tweet.
Bolsonaro sparks crisis after golden shower tweet
As Brazilians emerged from four days of intense Carnival parties, the country was dominated by one curious subject: golden showers. That’s because, on his official Twitter page, President Jair Bolsonaro shared a lewd video, shot during a Carnival street party, of one man masturbating—then being urinated on—supposedly to “denounce” the debauchery of Carnival. Then, confused about the response to his post, he asked his followers: “what is a golden shower?” It certainly backfired, becoming the latest case of self-inflicted political controversy in the Bolsonaro administration.
Respected legal scholars (even some more ideologically aligned with the president) said Jair Bolsonaro breached the decorum of his office, technically an impeachable offense. That won’t happen, of course, but the administration has come out of this looking very bad indeed, as the case made international headlines and turned Mr. Bolsonaro into a laughing stock. At a time when economic expectations around Brazil have become less optimistic—and the government has the challenge of passing a harsh pension reform—such episodes only undermine the administration’s credibility.
Brazilians joke that the year only properly starts at the end of Carnival. And this...