How Bolsonaro deflected blame for coronavirus debacle

Back in July, digital influencer Felipe Neto published an op-ed video on The New York Times, arguing that Donald Trump isn’t the worst pandemic president, and that the inglorious title belonged instead to Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. The YouTube personality joined a substantial crowd of critics — among them politicians, economists, and health experts — who denounce Mr. Bolsonaro’s nonchalance vis-à-vis the coronavirus. “He shows no sign of taking the crisis seriously,” said Mr. Neto.

And despite the overwhelming criticism — and no shortage of evidence of the Brazilian government’s ineptitude to manage a sanitary and economic crisis — Mr. Bolsonaro felt safe enough to say last week that no other administration in the world has fought the pandemic better than his. “It makes us proud. It shows that there are people who are talented and concerned, especially with the poorest, the most humble,” said the president. His self-aggrandizement, however, completely disregards coronavirus success cases such as South Korea or New Zealand.

But while it might be ludicrous to say that a country with 3.6 million confirmed infections and nearly 117,000 deaths has been the best at dealing with the pandemic, the truth is that Mr. Bolsonaro amazingly managed to deflect any blame for the health crisis away from himself. A few months ago, many foresaw that the coronavirus would be the president’s demise. Resilience, however, has been one of the adjectives better suited to Mr. Bolsonaro. Not only haven’t his approval ratings plummeted, the president is now as popular as ever, thanks to paying a BRL 600 emergency salary to informal and unemployed workers during the pandemic.

An opinion poll shows that 47 percent of Brazilians believe he has “no blame” for the country’s coronavirus deaths — with only 11 percent stating that he is the “main person to blame” for the crisis.

How has the Brazilian head of stage managed to pull this off?

Bolsonaro’s strategy (or lack thereof)

Jair Bolsonaro has undermined Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, dismissing the...