Jair Bolsonaro becomes his own worst enemy in pension reform fight

Tuesday, March 26 turned out to be a microcosm of the current moment in Brazilian politics. Amid the struggle to approve the government’s pension reform proposal, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes was invited to speak before the House’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) and explain the pension overhaul plan, point-by-point. House Speaker Rodrigo Maia, meanwhile, convinced his allies in the CCJ not to turn up to Tuesday’s session, causing Mr. Guedes to pull out and leave the government red-faced.

Amid this latest political fiasco, President Jair Bolsonaro—whose survival in office depends on the success of the pension reform—decided that Tuesday morning was the ideal time to go to the movies with his wife Michele, and watch the premiere of religious flick “Breakthrough.”

An overhaul of Brazil’s pension system is widely regarded as the most important job of the Jair Bolsonaro administration, but its progress has stalled, and the president himself has been identified as the project’s biggest obstacle.

Members of Congress have complained that Mr. Bolsonaro shows no personal investment in the reform process and that the liaison between his government and the political class has been almost non-existent. “There’s a lot riding on whether the government is able to pass the pension reform,” says Filipe Campante, distinguished associate professor at Johns Hopkins University. “But [the president] doesn’t want to...