Before we ponder the world’s biggest news this week, America’s surprisingly narrow midterm elections, let’s pay respect to Jair Bolsonaro. That’s because the Brazilian president recently did the right thing, becoming an unlikely role model for patriots in struggling democracies everywhere — even (or especially) for honest Republicans in the U.S.
Bolsonaro is a populist leader who’s taken style pointers from former U.S. President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. And he just lost Brazil’s presidential election to his leftist challenger, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, by the narrowest of margins. For two days, Brazilians waited with bated breath for what Bolsonaro would do. Spread a Big Lie that the election was “stolen”? Nod to his goons to use violence? Refuse the orderly transition of power?
“As president and a citizen, I’ll continue to follow our constitution,” Bolsonaro declared instead, authorizing the handover to Lula. And with that gesture, democracy in Brazil, at least for the time being, was preserved and even strengthened.
