Brazil’s Trump: right-wing firebrand Jair Bolsonaro declares presidential ambition

Jair Bolsonaro, a controversial politician often compared to Donald Trump and hard-right French politician Marine Le Pen, on Thursday declared himself the “patriot” Brazil needs.

Although official campaigning is not yet permitted for the October 2018 presidential polls, Bolsonaro called a campaign-like press conference at a Rio hotel to lay out his deeply conservative vision and mock his liberal critics.

The former army paratrooper said he is the answer to Brazil’s rampant corruption, crime and economic malaise - “an honest president, a patriot, who has green and yellow (the national flag’s colors) in his blood and Jesus in his heart.”

Fervent in his opposition to abortion and gay rights, as well as support for gun ownership and an aggressive military, the congressman is Brazil’s version of nationalist, conservative politicians gaining prominence around the world.

Opponents condemn Bolsonaro as racist, homophobic and an apologist for torture during the two decades long military dictatorship that ended in Brazil in 1985.

However, the 62-year-old is no fringe politician. With Brazil mired in problems, his message of toughness and an end to business as usual is striking a chord.