Jair Bolsonaro isolates himself, in the wrong way

ONE BY ONE the doubters have made their peace with medical science. Only four rulers in the world continue to deny the threat to public health posed by covid-19. Two are flotsam from the former Soviet Union, the despots of Belarus and Turkmenistan. A third is Daniel Ortega, the tropical dictator of Nicaragua. The other is the elected president of a great, if battered, democracy. Jair Bolsonaro’s undermining of his own government’s efforts to contain the virus may mark the beginning of the end of his presidency.

Since the new coronavirus was first detected in Brazil in late February Mr Bolsonaro, a former army captain with a fondness for military rulers, has made light of it. Dismissing its effects as “just a little dose of flu”, he said “we’re going to face the virus like a man, dammit, not like a little boy.” He added, helpfully: “we’re all going to die one day.” In the 15 months since he became president, Brazilians have become accustomed to his macho bravado and ignorance on issues ranging from the conservation of the Amazon rainforest to education and policing. But this time the damage is immediate and obvious: Mr Bolsonaro has coupled defiant rhetoric with active sabotage of public health.

He claims to believe in “vertical isolation”, in the quarantining only of Brazilians aged over 60 in order to limit damage to...

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