Bolsonaro misses the military dictatorship and, like every ruler who has dictatorial intentions, strictly follows the coupist booklet according to which “my friends can have it all, my enemies will have the law” – laws that are shaped to favor him. Since the beginning of his term, Bolsonaro has ordered the persecution of political opponents, artists, journalists, and even other professionals who are against his government. He used the national security law, an outdated law from the dictatorship that had never been used since the end of the Figueiredo government. Thankfully, that law is now revoked. Following the Olavo de Carvalho playbook of going to court and criminalizing opposing opinions, Bolsonaro had all kinds of opponents arrested, investigated, and prosecuted, financially suffocating and causing widespread fear in any professional who dared to contradict him and his supporters.

As the law prevented him from appointing more Supreme Court Justices – and taking control of it – and unable to create a Bolsolão in the supreme court, all that was left for Bolsonaro was to try to weaken the Court's power, and he did that daily since the beginning of his government. From Eduardo Bolsonaro’s bravado about closing the STF with “a jeep, a corporal, and a soldier” to the encouragement of protests and the funding of extremist groups every day, Bolsonaro incites the population against the country’s supreme court.

1. Pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations defending reforms and speaking against Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (Exame, May 2019)
2. On Twitter, Bolsonaro identifies the Federal Supreme Court as one of his enemies (Conjur, October 2019)
3. July-August 2021: The timeline of how tensions between Federal Supreme Court and Bolsonaro escalated in one month (CNN, August 2021)
4. Bolsonaro talks about Moraes after fake news investigation: “his time will come” (CNN, August 2021)
5. Bolsonaro's Fisheries Secretary defends Supreme Court targets, offends justices, and calls for September 7 demonstrations (Folha, August 2021)
6. Bolsonaro repeats coup threat and says that September 7 will be an ultimatum to Supreme Court justices (Folha, September 2021)
7. The year was marked by Bolsonaro's attacks on the Supreme Court, which responded accordingly (VEJA, December 2021)
8. “Scoundrel,” sucker”: remember Bolsonaro’s attacks against Moraes and understand the president’s coming and going (Estadão, December 2021)
9. “Bolsonaro has been attacking the Supreme Court since he sat in the chair at Palácio do Planalto in 2019” (CBN, January 2022)
10. President Bolsonaro defends coup of 64 and Daniel Silveira and attacks Supreme Court justices (CNN, March 2022)
11. Pardon to Daniel Silveira was “an example to the Supreme Court,” says Bolsonaro (Poder 360, May 2022)
12. Jair Bolsonaro brings action against Alexandre de Moraes in the Supreme Court for alleged “abuse of authority” (Jota, May 2022)
13. Bolsonaro says Barroso “has no morals” and attacks Moraes (Poder 360, June 2022)
14. Officially a candidate, Bolsonaro attacks Supreme Court and calls for September 7 (Veja, July 2022)
15. Five times Bolsonaro attacked Moraes, the new Superior Electoral Court President (Congresso em Foco, August 2022)
16. Bolsonaro attacks STF and disqualifies letter in defense of democracy (Correio Braziliense, August 2022)

Electronic ballots are a source of national pride. They have always elected all members of the Bolsonaro family. Still, thanks to olavism and Steve Bannon's booklet – of whom Eduardo Bolsonaro is a fan and unconditional follower – Bolsonaro has been targeting the ballots with lies and conspiracy theories since the 2018 elections. He makes daily attacks, without evidence, against the ballots and the electoral process, which Bolsonaro deems rigged and unreliable. Based on the already failed Trumpist strategy, supported by the Armed Forces, and betting on the idea that if you repeat a lie, it becomes true, Bolsonaro uses the entire state apparatus – in addition to his private fake news-disseminating social media profiles – to threat the electoral process and express doubts about the electronic voting machines. It doesn't seem to have an effect, but it helps to strengthen the feeling of paranoia that has dominated the country since his inauguration.

1. 'We have no evidence,' says Bolsonaro in livestream to show evidence of fraud (Estado de Minas, July 2021)
2. Bolsonaro has no evidence of ballot box fraud but insists on accusation already denied by Electoral Court (El País, August 2021)
3. In a livestream, Bolsonaro repeats disinformation about electronic voting machines and Barroso (UOL, August 2021)
4. Bolsonaro attacks electronic voting machines using an investigation already dismissed by Electoral Court (Congresso em Foco, July 2022)
5. Bolsonaro spreads fake news against the electoral system to ambassadors (Brasil de Fato, July 2022)
6. The day after Bolsonaro attacked the electronic ballots, the US embassy says elections in Brazil are a world 'model' (G1, July 2022)
7. Bolsonaro attacks electronic voting machines – a collection of news articles (Istoé Dinheiro, August 2022)
8. The election in which Bolsonaro defended electronic voting machines as an antidote to fraud in printed voting - 1993 (BBC, August 2022)
9. In a podcast, Bolsonaro attacks polls, minimizes dictatorship, and defends ineffective drugs (Carta Capital, August 2022) 

Attacking the press has been one of the tools of Bolsonaro's political agenda since the beginning - "The press tries at all costs to buy the rope that will hang it" is a sentence he said in 2016. As president, he began to attack the press from the day of his inauguration and never stopped. His rhetoric of presenting himself to supporters as an outsider persecuted by the “system” press and his habit of using his private fake news network to stir up his herd of radical followers against opponents expose journalists of all vehicles – except those aligned with his government, of course – to daily attacks, and even physical assault. He acts misogynistic and aggressive, and women journalists have been his main targets forever. Without support from the serious press, Bolsonaro and his followers support large media outlets aligned with the government, such as, for example, Rede Jovem Pan – often with taxpayer’s money via government advertising.

1. Who are the YouTubers recommended by Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro’s “excellent channels of information” are known disseminators of lies and conspiracy theories (The Intercept, November 2019)
2. Without toilet or water, journalists report restrictions on Bolsonaro's inauguration ceremony (Exame, January 2019)
3. Bolsonaro uses a false statement to attack the media (Estadão, March 2019)
4. A French newspaper denies Jair Bolsonaro and the article by a reader that attacks a journalist from Estadão. The author of the text used in fake news against the reporter “has nothing to do with our portal,” says the editor of Mediapart (The Intercept, March 2019)
5. 'The only positive thing about the Intercept is HIV,' says a former advisor to MEC. Website founder Glenn Greenwald is openly gay (O Globo, June 2019)
6. Bolsonaro attacks Greenwald’s husband and refers to Jean Willys as “a girl” (Paraná Portal, June 2019)
7. 'He might to jail here in Brazil', says Bolsonaro about Glenn Greenwald (G1, July 2019)
8. Bolsonaro uses false information to attack journalist Míriam Leitão. At breakfast with foreign media, the president accuses the GLOBO columnist of lying about having been tortured and mistakenly claims that she was part of the armed resistance (O Globo, July 2019)
9. In 10 days, Bolsonaro's statements contain prejudice, false data, and sarcasm. President attacked journalists, northeasterners, and victims of the military dictatorship (Folha, July 2019)
10. Jair Bolsonaro makes homophobic attack on Pulitzer-winning journalist (Sputnik, September 2019)
11. Bolsonaro attacks the press, on average, twice a week (Poder 360, November 2019)
12. Bolsonaro attacked the press 117 times since becoming president (Congresso em Foco, January 2020)
13. Bolsonaro offends Folha journalist: “She wanted the scoop” (IstoÉ, February 2020)
14. Journalist Marco Villa reports that Secom calls media outlets to coerce those who criticize the Bolsonaro government (Teleguiado, February 2020)
15. Journalist Vera Magalhães, from 'Estado', is the target of attacks on social networks after disclosing that President Jair Bolsonaro had used his personal cell phone to call the population to demonstrations against Congress (IstoÉ, February 2020)
16. Bolsonaro defends the boycott of the 'lying' media, says he will go to Fiesp and will ask businessmen not to advertise in Folha. (Folha, February 2020)
17. At Fiesp, Bolsonaro suggests businessmen to advertise their brands in the government-aligned press (Gaúcha ZH, March 2020)
18. To avoid answering about the tiny GDP, Bolsonaro uses comedian to humiliate journalists (Jornal GGN, March 2020)
19. Disclosure of records links Eduardo Bolsonaro's office to the profile that made virtual attacks against journalists and the STF (UOL, March 2020)
20. Bolsonaro again attacks the press and denies that he has called for protests (BBC, March 2020)
21. "SHUT UP, I DIDN'T ASK ANYTHING," Bolsonaro said to a reporter who asked him about the changes he made to the Federal Police to protect his children in RJ (Folha, May 2020)
22. After Bolsonaro criticized the press, supporters harassed journalists. The insults against press professionals by Bolsonaro supporters became routine at Palácio da Alvorada in Brasília (CNN, May 2020)
23. Supporter of the president assaults a journalist in front of the Federal Police, where Sérgio Moro was going to depose (Ivan Valente, on Twitter, May 2020)
24. A reporter was doing a piece on military personnel with COVID-19. He was assaulted and had his hand broken by a Bolsonaro supporter. In addition to being assaulted, he had his equipment destroyed (Video available on Twitter, May 2020)
25. Bolsonaro supporters dig through Alvorada's garbage to attack journalists. Men made videos saying the press was dirty; Alvorada's security said he made them delete images (Folha, May 2020)
26. To express her support for the president, a protester hit a reporter's head with a Brazilian flagpole (Metrópoles, May 2020)
27. Bolsonaro supporters attack reporters: "Piece of Garbage! Sons of bitches! Liars! You are liars! Communists! Enemies of the Republic (Folha, May 2020).
28. The next day, Bolsonaro said that the reporters were playing victims (link to the video)
29. 9 times Bolsonaro attacked journalists - and which themes led the president to lose his temper (BBC, May 2020)
30. PF summons Folha columnist to depose about text whose theme was Bolsonaro and Covid (Folha, August 2020)
31. Bolsonaro threatens a journalist: 'My desire is to beat the crap out of you.' President did not like being asked about checks that were allegedly deposited by Queiroz and his wife in the account of the first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro (Fantástico, August 2020)
32. Bolsonaro criticizes Maju Coutinho's statement and supporters react “Liar”. With the hashtag "Majumentirosa" [MajuLiar], the name of the TV Globo host became one of the trending topics on Twitter (Metrópoles, August 2020).
33. One detail: The journalist was not lying.
34. The Brazilian courts forbid TV Globo from showing documents related to the Flávio Bolsonaro case (Veja, September 2020)
35. Bolsonaro's Secom attacks Marcelo Adnet after he did a parody of an ultranationalist video. The Secretary of Culture, Mário Frias, also published insults to the comedian; for the former Malhação actor, Adnet is a “declining clown” (Revista Fórum, September 2020)
36. Bolsonaro attacked the press 299 times in the last nine months, according to Fenaj (O Globo, October 2020)
37. Remember Bolsonaro's series of attacks on Folha since the 2018 election campaign. In addition to offending newspaper reporters, the president has already said that "the right thing to do is withdraw it" (Folha, November 2019)
38. Bolsonaro attacks the press and suggests withdrawing newspapers (Estado de Minas, February 2021)
39. Bolsonaro attacks journalists again: “Ridiculous, you'll have to be born again” (Correio Braziliense, June 2021)
40. Bolsonaro insults reporter and tells her to “shut up” (DW, June 2021)
41. Furious, Bolsonaro takes off his mask, tells reporter and team to shut up, complains about CNN, and attacks Globo (Folha, June 2021)
42. How mathematical analyzes rule out the hypothesis of fraud at the polls, contrary to what Bolsonaro says (BBC, July 2021)
43. Bolsonaro attacked the press 87 times in the first half of 2021, an increase of 74%, says entity (Folha, July 2021)
44. Journalists are attacked by Bolsonaro's security guards in Rome (UOL, October 2021)
45. International press talks about aggression against Brazilian journalists in a protest with Bolsonaro in Rome (BBC, November 2021)
46. Journalists are attacked by Bolsonaro's security guard in Bahia. The president's security guard applied a "rear naked choke" to a TV Bahia reporter, a subsidiary of TV Globo, in Itamaraju (Metrópoles, December 2021)
47. Bolsonaro minimizes security guards’ assaulting journalists (Metrópoles, December 2021)
48. Bolsonaro consolidates himself as the biggest aggressor of journalists, points out a report by the National Federation of Journalists (Uol, January 2022)
49. Bolsonaro is responsible for one in three violations against the press in 2021 (Abraji, January 2022)
50. Government attacks undermine press in Brazil, according to RFS (DW, May 2022)
51. Bolsonaro is ordered to pay BRL 100,000 in compensation for attacks on the press (Carta Capital, June 2022)
52. Bolsonaro attacks the press, doubts the ballot box again, and defends disobeying the STF (Uol, June 2022)
53. Brazil is the 3rd country that lost the most freedom of speech in the decade (UOL Notícias, June 2022)
54. Bolsonaro is sentenced to compensate journalist Patrícia Campos Mello da Folha for mental distress. (Uol, June 2022)
55. Clan Bolsonaro attacks the press once every 14 hours (Yahoo, July 2022)
56. Bolsonaro bars the press from his meeting with ambassadors (Folha, July 2022)
57. Bolsonaro says that businessmen defending a coup is fake news and attacks journalist Guilherme Amado (Folha, August 2022)
58. Jovem Pan and the coup. How the broadcaster became the most strident arm of Bolsonarism (Revista Piauí, August 2022)
59. Under Bolsonaro, official advertising funds for Rádio Jovem Pan increased three-fold (Revista Piauí, August 2022)

Bolsonaro is a fan of far-right dictators and extremists and does not miss an opportunity to honor them. His fascination with the convicted torturer Ustra, whom he calls a “national hero,” has been known since he was a representative. Bolsonaro has publicly praised national torturers, such as Curió, several times. But the president's taste for dictators is not limited to the national product: on several occasions, the president has also shown his affection for coup plotters from other countries, such as the Paraguayan pedophile Stroessner, the Chilean Pinochet, among others, and whenever he has the opportunity, he pays honors to Orbán and Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who persecutes Christians in his country and had a journalist murdered and quartered.

1. 7 facts about the dictator — and repeated pedophile — praised by Bolsonaro: Pedophile, drug trafficking stimulator, promoter of whiskey smuggling, torturer, maker of fake elections... This is a very brief curriculum vitae of Paraguayan dictator (O Globo, February de 2019).
2. All the heroes of Jair Bolsonaro. On the altar of Jair Bolsonaro, there is a list of thieves, murderers, torturers, and a pedophile who the President of Brazil has publicly praised (The Intercept Brasil, March 2019)
3. Bolsonaro calls Colonel Brilhante Ustra a “national hero” (G1, August 2019)
4. "For the memory of Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, Dilma Rousseff's nightmare." Even before becoming president, Bolsonaro already praised dictators and torturers. In his vote during the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, he paid tribute to Colonel Ustra, who tortured her. Ustra was convicted of crimes committed during the military dictatorship. (Estadão, September 2019)
5. Bolsonaro praises Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile and attacks Bachelet's father. The father of the former Chilean president and current UN commissioner was tortured and killed by the dictatorship that lasted until 1990 (VEJA, September 2019)
6. Bolsonaro says he has "some similarities" with the prince of Saudi Arabia. Mohammed bin Salman is accused internationally of being the mastermind of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi (VEJA, October 2019)
7. The crimes committed by Major Curió, torturer whom Bolsonaro received in the Planalto. Former mayor of Pará, Major Curió is accused of murder, torture, and concealment of corpses in the Guerrilha do Araguaia (Brasil de Fato, May 2020)
8. Bolsonaro mocks the torture suffered by Dilma, who replies: “Sociopath” (Valor, December 2020)
9. Bolsonaro honors Alfredo Stroessner AGAIN in 2022 , praising the pedophile and rapist dictator for being a “man of vision.” (Metrópoles, February 2022)
10. Bolsonaro praises colonel convicted of torture: 'He fought for democracy' (Estado de Minas, March 2022)

Admired by neo-Nazi groups, who see him as a role model, Bolsonaro has even received the unusual tribute from the leader of the Ku Klux Klan and has a peculiar similarity with various typically fascist thoughts and attitudes. His government has already honored Nazis, received German politicians linked to Nazism, and even a secretary of culture stepped out after making a speech in which he copied Goebbels, Hitler's Nazi propaganda minister. Bolsonarism is also very fond of using translated or reused Nazi-fascist slogans, such as the integralist “God, homeland, family, and freedom” also used by Mussolini – creator of fascism –, “Brazil above everything, God above all” – a direct translation of the Nazi “Deutschland über alles” –, or even “work sets you free,” which was placed by Hitler at the entrance of several extermination camps during the second world war. His government policy fits ALL the topics of Umberto Eco's "Ur-Fascism.

1. Researcher finds Bolsonaro's letter published on neo-Nazi websites in 2004 (Intercept Brasil, July 2021)
2. Neo-Nazis help convene pro-Bolsonaro "civic demonstration" in São Paulo (Uol, April 2011)
3. The Brazilian Courts convict Neo-Nazis from Belo Horizonte: “The judge ordered the return of their personal belongings, such as cell phones, camouflage clothes, and shoes. Items such as books about Hitler, a letter sent by Jair Bolsonaro, registration forms from the Pátria Livre movement, and flash drives will be sent to the Prosecution Office.” (O Tempo, May 2016)
4. 'He sounds like us': David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, about Bolsonaro (BBC, October 2018)
5. Bolsonaro ordered Defense Ministry to make the “due celebrations” of the 64 coup, says spokesperson (G1 Política, March 2019)
6. Brazilian army honors German major who defended the Nazi army (Exame, July 2019)
7. Israelis condemn Bolsonaro's statement on the Holocaust: Yad Vashem Memorial, and Israel's president say that no one has the right to determine whether the Nazi regime's crimes against Jews can be forgiven, as Bolsonaro suggested at an event with evangelicals (DW Brasil, April 2019)
8. Granddaughter of Hitler's minister, German far-right congresswoman suggests 'conservative international' with Bolsonaro (BBC Brasil, August 2021)
9. “God, Fatherland, Family”: Bolsonaro uses the Brazilian Integralist Action motto in a letter to the nation. President signed the document containing the expression of the movement founded in the 1930s (Brasil de Fato, September 2021)
10. Roberto Alvim, Bolsonaro's Secretary of Culture, imitates Nazi Goebbels' speech and is dismissed (El País, January 2020)
11. Bolsonaro praised Alvim during live stream hours before ad with Nazi speech (UOL, January 2020)
12. A macabre joke: Pro-Bolsonaro Institute that recorded the Brazilian “Templar” and was received by Bolsonaro and Weintraub has a Nazi in its ranks (Revista Fórum, March 2020)
13. Five times Bolsonaro, or people linked to him, resorted to Nazi symbols (Brasil de Fato, March 2021)
14. Bolsonaro publishes video with a sentence attributed to Mussolini, fascist dictator (Correio Braziliense, June 2020)
15. Eleven times Bolsonarism flirted with Nazism (Congresso em Foco, June 2022)
16. Neo-Nazi episodes grow under Bolsonaro's government, says a report. (Carta Capital, August 2022)
17. Bolsonaro repeats a fascist-inspired motto during the March of Mayors (Correio Braziliense, June 2022)