I’ve been following the Brazilian runoff election closely. Former President Lula da Silva won the count by 2 million votes but his opponent, incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro remains uncharacteristically silent.  We all know the reason why.

Bolsonaro’s enemies have given him one of the greatest nicknames in political history, Bozo. He’s a malevolent clown who smiles too broadly and talks too much. His political role model seems to be former President* Pennywise who is a malevolent clown who smiles grudgingly and talks too much. Both have been silent for several days: Trump because of the Pelosi attack and Bozo because of his election defeat.

Like Trump in both 2016 and 2020, Bozo has “worked the refs” by insisting that the election system is corrupt. Rigged is an important word in both their vocabularies.

Like Trump, Bozo loves the limelight. He’s the attention whore’s attention whore. This long silence is sinister. Presumably, he’s taking the temperature of his supporters and the military as to whether they will support an attempt to stay in office. We use the French word coup; they call it a golpe. Either way it makes me gulp.

Brazil is a baby democracy with a history of military dictatorship. My fingers are crossed that they won’t back Bozo and the transition of power will be a peaceful one. Given Bozo’s inflammatory rhetoric it’s hard not to be skeptical.

Bozo is supposed to address his nation some time today. Until then, we’re all waiting for Bozo.