Trump, Bolsonaro, and the Framing of the Covid-19 Crisis

Abstract

In the aftermath of the global COVID-19 crisis, whereas many world leaders enacted swift lockdown orders and robust testing regimes to preserve public health and to speed up economic recovery, Donald Trump in the United States and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil responded to outbreaks by publicly downplaying the significance of the crisis and argued that overly restrictive health measures would create too sizable an economic risk. These two presidents have done much to weaken democracy and trust in government. In this article, we examine the extent to which two institutions in each country––federalism and the party system––impacted the ways in which they framed the COVID-19 crisis and policy responses to it in 2020, especially during the first months of the pandemic. Our evidence suggests that each of these institutions provided opportunities for both leaders to reconstruct public understandings of the crisis while deflecting blame for negative public-health outcomes.

BRICS and the USA: Labor and Employment Support During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…If we compare the indicators of individual BRICS countries with those of the United States, we will see that the mortality rate in the United States almost coincides with that of Brazil. In these two countries, as noted in many studies, the presidents Trump and Bolsonaro had downplayed the danger of the virus; the restrictive measures, when adopted, were of little effect resulting in high mortality (Béland, D., Rocco, P., Segatto, C. I., & Waddan, A. (2021).…”

How pandemic-related changes in global attitudes toward the scientific community shape “post-pandemic” environmental opinion

“…The United States is one of a small number of countries where right-wing populist political leaders like Donald Trump or Jair Bolsonaro have repeatedly undermined scientific consensus and recommendations with their messaging and have been criticized for their management of the pandemic (e.g. Algan et al, 2021; Béland et al, 2021).…”

Note From the Editor:

“…Finally, Hüsna Taş Yetim (2021) gives a timely review of Daniel McCormack's 2019 book, Great Powers and International Hierarchy. The review intersects extremely well with Teixeira's (2021) study of the hegemonic contest between the United States and China in this issue of WAJ, as well as the first article in this issue concerning framing the COVID-19 crisis and the ensuing domestic policy decisions of Presidents Trump and Bolsonaro (Béland et al 2021) and their effects on perceptions abroad. McCormack's solid theoretical discussions, highlighted by Yetim, will be of interest to scholars and practitioners seeking to deepen their understanding of the influence of hierarchical rivalry on international actors-both in terms of their foreign policy and, importantly, their domestic decisions, policies, and political strategies.…”