Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in Brazil over Senator Flávio Bolsonaro is being celebrated by progressives as a historic victory for democracy. On Sunday, the left-wing incumbent won an unprecedented fourth term by defeating Bolsonaro by more than 4 million votes, even though he had lost the first round of voting.

“All in all, a good day for progressives and for democracy,” Robert Kuttner wrote in the American Prospect.

Kuttner said the vote was evidence that Lula’s progressive policies — cash payments to families who send their kids to public school, a minimum wage hike, and new taxes on wealthy Brazilians — were working.

Lula’s economic populism may indeed have helped him politically, but calling his victory a win for democracy is laughable. Though you wouldn’t know it from reading Kuttner’s article, in the immediate aftermath of his win, Lula announced he’d impose an immediate crackdown on social media, which he justified by divine mandate.

“I was chosen by God,” the 81-year-old Lula announced to his supporters. “I always found that I had God’s finger on my head.”

Lula’s announcement prompted George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley to quip that God, apparently, supports denying civil liberties to his people.

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