After pro-Bolsonaro demos, the stalemate continues
Sunday’s pro-Bolsonaro protests have kept the country at a stalemate. Demos were large enough to dissipate precocious talks of impeachment, but not big enough to scare lawmakers into following the agenda set by the Executive branch. Yesterday’s events were much smaller than the May 15 non-partisan protests against cuts to the education budget—but still showed that the president has control over his core base of supporters.
While opponents called the events a flop, Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters claimed victory, calling the events an “enormous, spontaneous popular demonstration.” And that war of narratives could spark more tension between the government and Congress. Throughout Sunday, the president tweeted a series of videos of the demonstrations—many displaying attacks towards Congress and the Supreme Court. That evening, Mr. Bolsonaro gave an interview saying “people are fed up with the old ways of politics.”
House Speaker Rodrigo Maia was one of the main targets of protesters. In Rio de Janeiro, demonstrators took an inflatable effigy of him, calling him a “crook.” The press and the Supreme Court were also on the receiving end of insults. While more moderate wings of the government tried to...