“It's just a little flu”

This chapter discusses the institutional crisis that paved the way for the rise of Bolsonaro and how he took advantage of it to advance an authoritarian project that was ultimately inspired by the former military dictatorship. It explores the epistemological crisis affecting the authority of the institutions responsible for the production and distribution of knowledge – respectively, science and the media – and how Bolsonaro took advantage of these forces. The Covid-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented crisis worldwide, which has been referred to as the greatest challenge since World War II. The political crisis related to Bolsonaro's authoritarian style of government is only a partial explanation of his truly disastrous management of the Covid-19 crisis. Disinformation campaigns and defamation against political adversaries became an integral part of Bolsonarista political strategy. Discourses around accountability, transparency and accurate information as a civil right, are in part dependent on traditional journalism as a vital weapon against disinformation.