In the jungle, the jaguar reigns supreme. With its supremely powerful hind legs and crushing jaw, the jaguar is a dominating apex predator. The casualties left behind after a jaguar’s hunt are the unfortunate consequences of an order that promotes a primitive doctrine: Might is right. Amid the chaos of the rainforests where it naturally ranges, the jaguar reigns above all.
So too, from Brazil’s political tumult, a new ruler has emerged. On Oct. 28, Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil. Just two months ago, election junkies would have been as shocked as a tapir in a jaguar’s jaws to hear the bombastic Bolsonaro would assume Brazil’s top office; he is a marked departure from presidents past. His swift rise to the summit of political achievement indicates changed, more extreme and cynical Brazilian politics.
Bolsonaro trounced Fernando Haddad by more than 10 percent in Sunday’s runoff election, which followed a first round in which no candidate received a majority.
But the campaign was far from uneventful. In fact, it was probably the most colorful since a military dictatorship relinquished control to civilian government in 1985. Until the end of August, Bolsonaro trailed a man campaigning from a prison cell — former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In September, Bolsonaro was stabbed in the stomach by a man who claimed to be on “a mission from God” to bring Bolsonaro’s candidacy to an end.
Bolsonaro’s journey to victory was unexpected and politically exotic, just like the man himself. Bolsonaro is a far-right firebrand. A former army captain during military rule, the leader of the poorly named Social Liberal Party has denigrated the LGBTQ community, women and black…
