Just days before finishing his fifth month in office, President Jair Bolsonaro already sees his administration immersed in a profound crisis. In the corridors of Brasília, people are talking about resignation, impeachment, or even the possibility that the president may try to subvert the democratic order. After students and teachers from across the country staged massive protests against the government on May 15, the president’s most fervent supporters want an act of their own in response. Their targets? Congress’ “Big Center“—the group of center-right parties which hold a majority in the lower house—the Supreme Court, and the press.
But the discourse put forward by the most radical fringes of the right-wing—with the veiled support of the head of state himself—exposed cracks within Bolsonarism (both in Congress and among supporters outside the political arena). Pragmatic members of Mr. Bolsonaro’s Social Liberal Party voiced their opposition to a government-backed protest, clashing with the ideological zealots. Over the weekend, two congresswomen traded barbs on social media—exposing, for the whole country to see, the lack of unity among the government’s...
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