Bolsominion (from the English ''minion'') is a pejorative term used by opponents of former

Brazilian President The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

to refer to a segment of his supporters. The word is an

amalgamation Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan am ...

combining the first half of the surname

Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

, and the word ''minion'' ("servant", "follower"), which is also the name of the characters in the ''

Despicable Me ''Despicable Me'' is a computer-animated media franchise centering on Gru, a reformed super-villain (who later becomes a father, husband, and secret agent), and his yellow-colored Minions. It is produced by Illumination and distributed by ...

'' franchise. The term gained prominence in Brazilian media with the rise of Bolsonaro throughout his 2018 presidential campaign.

Ideology

In general, bolsominions are described as extreme right-wing people who are uncompromising, reactionary and adept at

military intervention Interventionism refers to a political practice of intervention, particularly to the practice of governments to interfere in political affairs of other countries, staging military or trade interventions. Economic interventionism refers to a diffe ...

to solve problems related to public health, education,

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

. They often use the term "''esquerdopata''" (pathological left) to refer to all opponents, which is a term used on the internet to treat leftist ideology as a disease ( psychopathy), to which its opponents usually respond by using the term "''direitopata''" (pathological right) to designate them. They see the relationship between military intervention and morality as closely linked factors and they are, in general,

antagonistic An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, ri ...

to agendas considered progressive. Many are also supporters of the Trump administration.

Use

In 2019, federal deputy

Eduardo Bolsonaro Eduardo Nantes Bolsonaro (born 10 July 1984) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and federal police officer. He is the third child of Jair Bolsonaro, the 38th President of Brazil. Career He has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 20 ...

held his 35th birthday party with a theme that referred to the term Bolsominion.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{Portalbar, Brazil, Conservatism Conservatism in Brazil Political slurs for people Far-right politics in Brazil Political terminology Right-wing populism in South America Despicable Me Political neologisms Jair Bolsonaro Authoritarianism