Government in self-destruction

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

What is Delegate Waldir? Technically, he is the leader of the supposedly powerful PSL bloc, the president's party, in the Chamber of Deputies. In other words, a kind of government leader, at the very least a trusted man of the Planalto Palace. He spent this morning giving radio interviews to repeat what he had already told newspapers: the government (to which he theoretically belongs) has no base in Congress, "the PSL has done its part but is not to blame if Onyx (Lorenzoni) didn't create the base." Not even an opposition leader could do better.

What is Carlos Bolsonaro? Over the weekend, he posted a video on his father's YouTube channel featuring Olavo de Carvalho once again mocking the military in a jocular tone, referring to dyed hair and affected voices. The second son must have received a rare reprimand, because he removed the video and, on Sunday, began a new phase, "far from all those who do nothing up close except for themselves," concluding: "Who am I in this crowd of stars?"

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We will never know for sure what Olavo de Carvalho is, but we are beginning to understand what the Chief Minister of the Government Secretariat, General Santos Cruz, is. He seems like a sensible fellow, especially when compared to the rest of the government, in that vein of "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

But even the most level-headed general loses his patience. He also woke up this Monday sending messages – and with good reason. In an interview with Globo, where the main topic was apparently the threat of a truckers' strike, he criticized the "fanaticism" of the government's ideological wing, the Olavo de Carvalho wing, without mentioning names. "When you become fanatical, you lose any capacity for analysis," he said, concluding that "you have fanatics who think they can radically influence things, and then they mess everything up."

This is the summary of Monday's events in a week in which, theoretically, the government should be united in working towards its main goal of the week: to remove the pension reform bill, which has been under consideration for two months, from the Chamber's Constitution and Justice Committee. It might even succeed, after making concessions and removing points from the text. However, in this climate of internal conflict, it risks achieving nothing more.

By the time we discover what this government is all about, there may be little left of it.

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