'Presidente livre e independente': a construção de Jair Bolsonaro como político outsider no horário eleitoral (2018)

Abstract

Contemporary political and communication changes related to the occurrence of crises in several democratic countries, including Brazil, are addressed in this study, based on the analysis of the 2018 elections.To this end, we adopted as an object the speech of the then candidate Jair Bolsonaro, which was broadcasted during Free Election Hours during the second round, in order to verify if and, if so, how to build his image as an outsider politician, term discussed throughout the study. Divided into three parts, the paper discusses what points to the crisis of political representation at national and international level, the process of mediatization of political activity, especially in the electoral period, and, by combining such issues, how these elements are present in the electoral discourse of Bolsonaro. Using the Critical Discourse Analysis method, we analyzed the 11 television programs of the campaign in the second round, in order to understand the relations established by it, their representational meanings and the discursive nature of social change. We conclude that Bolsonaro's image was roughly that of an outsider, which served as the basis for sustaining a vague change speech, inflated by violent antagonism with the PT, flirting with a fascist rhetoric, which is based on the construction of a “we versus them” opposition, which is used to mobilize the electorate in their favor, even though, because these are TV programs, this presentation is moderated with an attempt to reach a larger audience. What can be seen in the choice of varied themes, although with predominance of issues related to corruption and public security, and the division that exists between different moments throughout each insertion, making possible that discourses more related to Bolsonaro and others with more content neutral are presented.