Bolsonaro tries to cement coalition with cabinet reshuffling

After winning the 2018 presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro turned his cabinet into an incompatible patchwork of power circles. This incongruous salad caused numerous internal struggles within the government and hampered the administration’s ability to pass its agenda in Congress. Little by little, however, Mr. Bolsonaro is changing course and embarking on what he promised never to do as president: using cabinet positions in exchange for political support.

Eyeing governability in the latter half of his term, Mr. Bolsonaro booted Tourism Minister and ally Marcelo Álvaro Antônio this afternoon, in order to solidify a coalition with the “Big Center,” an amalgam of rent-seeking conservative parties that is arguably the most powerful faction in Congress.

The Big Center is the face of pork-barrel politics within Brazil’s Congress. While scorned by voters, the group nevertheless manages to win enough seats in Congress to leverage its support from the government du jour. No administration has managed any sustained success without the backing of the Big Center — and Jair...