John Oliver talks Brazil and its elections on Last Week Tonight

John Oliver explains why Brazil’s presidential elections matter, even if you don’t live in Brazil, on the latest episode of Last Week Tonight.

The most recent episode of Last Week Tonight is about Brazil, but it’s likely not what you’re expecting. Brazil, after all, can’t be all soccer, beaches, and the massive, sprawling annual carnival held in Rio de Janeiro. In fact, right now it is facing a huge and potentially historic election that could have worldwide consequences.

The first of two rounds of voting in this election happened on Sunday. This election has been nuts, and it’s not just because of candidates like Geraldo Wolverine, who has based his whole schtick around the popular and ever-grumpy X-Men character of (almost) the same name. Remember that over 200 million people live in Brazil, making it the fifth largest country on the planet.

Surveys say that huge swaths of that population are upset about the path of their nation. It’s been emerging from the worst recession in its history, as well as historic levels of violence and upheaval. According to one source, 30% of Rio’s people report that they have been caught in crossfire in recent years.

Operation Car Wash has been at the center of many peoples’ complaints. It’s frankly too complicated to fully explain right now, but it involved gas companies, 2 billion dollars’ worth of bribery, and someone who flew around the globe smuggling wads of cash on their body. Altogether, many are calling it the biggest corruption scandal in history.

Operation Car Wash has absolutely rocked its government and utterly damaged constituent’s faith in their political system. “The country of the future is the country of misery,” said one person interviewed on the street.

Da Silva, Haddad, and Bolsonaro

Former president Lula Da Silva was running to retake his office and looked ready to win – except for when he turned himself in to serve a 12 year sentence for corruption. Yet, if he were somehow allowed to run from prison, polls showed that he would still unbelievably win.

Da Silva’s party, the PT (or Workers’ Party) has chosen Fernando Haddad to run in Da Silva’s place. Even though he’s a former mayor of Sao Paulo, few seem to know who Haddad is, exactly. It doesn’t help that the Workers Party has had its own corruption woes, some of which involve Haddad himself.

Instead, far-right conservative Jair Bolsonaro is currently leading in the polls. “He is a terrible human being,” said Oliver. For one, he’s way too into making finger guns at every opportunity. More seriously, however, he cares little for holding back and building bridges, to say the least. He’s “outspoken” — that is, he’s said things that are racist, offensive, and so generally gross that he’s earned the title of “Brazilian Donald Trump.”

Middle and upper class people have turned out in support of him, often intensely so. Young people in particular like him and his hard line conservatism.

Bolsonaro has called refugees “the scum of the world,” wants to make it easier for Brazilians to buy guns, and says that Brazil should also withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. He’s strongly in favor of increased police force, saying that “A policeman who does not kill is not a policeman.”

Tensions increase

Meanwhile, he basically thinks that the country’s previous military dictatorship, which lasted until 1985, wasn’t harsh enough. “I’m in favor or torture,” he said, echoing the dictatorship’s use of torture, “and the people are, too.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he’s also virulently homophobic. Bolsonaro has advocated beating children who appear to be gay, while also arguing that LGBTQ people are sexual predators.

Things have gotten so tense that Bolsonaro was stabbed during a campaign rally. Yes, he gave the finger guns from his hospital bed. Since then, it seems as if his support has only grown stronger. Even Geraldo Wolverine has spoken in favor of Bolsonaro, if you count an incredibly strange campaign ad full of grunts as “speaking.”

While support for Bolsonaro is strong, there is reason to hope for centrists and leftists. #EleNao (“Not Him”) is a growing anti-Bolsonaro movement that has been making waves. That’s significant, given that Bolsonaro hasn’t secured Brazil’s presidency just yet. In the Brazilian election system, candidates must secure more than half the vote to win their office.

Bolsonaro has garnered a commanding lead. Yet, it’s not the 50% needed to win the presidency immediately. Everything now moves to a runoff election three weeks in the future.

“Anything is better than Bolsonaro,” said Oliver. “Bolsonaro does not reflect the best of who you are, Brazil.”