Brazil’s political elite must accept Jair Bolsonaro is not for turning

Many politicians doubted President Jair Bolsonaro would follow through with his request to impeach Supreme Court Justices Alexandre de Moraes and Luís Roberto Barroso. But the head of state proved them wrong once again as he submitted a formal plea last week to suspend Mr. Moraes, correctly identified as Mr. Bolsonaro’s nemesis by The Brazilian Report editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro. 

Since the beginning of Mr. Bolsonaro’s term, Brazil’s political elite has been reluctant to accept that the president will not moderate his behavior under any circumstances. This hesitation has created a dangerous path for Brazilian democracy vis-a-vis the 2022 election. 

With increasingly negative polling numbers, Mr. Bolsonaro’s own political survival depends on extreme and antidemocratic conduct that engages his more radical base of support. As such, the worst is no doubt yet to come. 

The “Big Center” gamble has failed

Among the most common arguments made for the likelihood of President Bolsonaro moderating his behavior is his supposed alliance with a group of ideologically chameleonic parties in Congress known as the “Big Center.”

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