From Myth to Prison: Bolsonaro Went from Meteoric Rise to Fall by Coup and Leaves Succession Challenge

Jair Messias Bolsonaro arrived at the Presidency of the Republic acclaimed by shouts of myth and boosted by a wave that carried his name. As a federal deputy from the lower house with 27 years of experience, he managed to catalyze rising popular dissatisfaction following the 2013 protests and the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff (PT) in 2016. The popularity confirmed at the polls in 2018 was built by embodying the anti-Worker’s Party sentiment leveraged by Operation Car Wash and pushing conservative agendas such as gun liberalization and harsher penalties for criminals. Seven years and one month later, the myth met its epilogue this week with the arrest and the start of serving a sentence of 27 years and 3 months for crimes related to an attempted coup.