While people in 50 states hold their breath to see where midterm election winds take us, the world turns. In Israel, a dizzying fifth parliamentary election in four years looks likely to give scandal-scarred Benjamin Netanyahu another turn. And in Brazil, voters have chosen to return scandal-scarred Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to office, a sharp leftward tack for the 130-million-strong democracy.
We hope President-elect Lula, as he’s known, is driven less by know-nothing bombast than the very Trumpian Jair Bolsonaro, who accelerated deforestation of the Amazon, ignored COVID-19 warnings and showed significant contempt for the rule of law. But in one big way, Bolsonaro has already shown more respect for his nation’s institutions than Donald Trump. Namely, he appears to be accepting a narrow but decisive defeat at the polls rather than sowing chaos. We say “appears” because, as evidenced by the events of Jan. 6, 2021, plenty can happen between now and Brazil’s Jan. 1 inauguration day.
On the ground, conditions remain tenuous. In defiance of a Supreme Court order, pro-Bolsonaro truckers are continuing to pitch a fit and blockade roads, disrupting fuel distribution. Wednesday, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters went so far as to issue brazen calls for a military coup to keep Bolsonaro in power.
When a defeated U.S. president saw a pile of dry kindling, he lit a box of matches — spreading a thousand false conspiracy theories about a stolen election. Bolsonaro is so far charting a more responsible course. While he encourages protests and has yet to concede defeat, he is urging demonstrators to remain peaceful, has vowed to follow the nation’s constitution, and has authorized the government to start a transition to his successor.
Brazil, which only returned to democracy after 20 years of military dictatorship in 1985, hopefully knows not to take government of, by and for the people for granted. Here’s to hoping Bolsonaro keeps letting the air out of militants unwilling to accept defeat — and, in the process, schools a certain North American leader and his antidemocratic minions.
