Bolsonaro's ineptitude with party leaders

By Helena Chagas, for The Divergent and for the Journalists for Democracy

Everything could change by tomorrow, but the planned format for President Jair Bolsonaro's talks with the leaders of the major center parties this Thursday is causing unease among experienced political strategists. Besides the insecurity of the guests, who fear turning their backs and being labeled by the president as representatives of "old politics," leaders of the PSD, DEM, MDB, and others believe the meetings are merely a formality – in other words, a staged event for Bolsonaro to show the country that he is not intransigent and wants to approve the pension reform.

According to these party leaders – who have already hinted at not asking for positions, amendments, or anything else in the talks – those who truly want to negotiate don't receive the presidents of the largest parties in Congress all at once, on the same day, in a "batch," as if it were a bureaucratic and even somewhat arduous task. The conversations will be separate, but they are all keeping an eye on the agenda and the awkward queue expected this Thursday, with Gilberto Kassab (PSD), ACM Neto (DEM), Romero Jucá (MDB), Marcos Pereira (PRB), etc., coming and going.

Some are already joking that, between hearings, they'll wonder: so, what did he give you?

It's clear that politics, and here we're talking about good politics which has dialogue as its raw material, isn't done that way. Party presidents are pompous individuals who think they're very important and don't like being treated like cattle, nor do they like having to queue, even for cordial conversations without much depth. And they don't like it when the President of the Republic hides the photo with them.

Bolsonaro will never consult his predecessors, especially after everything he's said about them – and it would be good to forget everything he's said about his guests tomorrow as well. But just look at the agendas of presidents of the Republic to see that these things never happened this way. Party leaders were always treated as if they were unique, at least while the conversation lasted, in cafes, lunches, dinners, and conversations at the Palace. A queue in the waiting room, never.

As mentioned above, there's still time to change this format, space out conversations, schedule them on different days, invite someone for lunch or dinner. This isn't old-style politics, nor does it imply quid pro quo or un-republican behavior. It's courtesy and good manners.

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