Contributor: How the conviction of Brazil’s former president echoes in the U.S.
On Thursday, the Brazilian Supreme Court was found guilty of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s unsuccessful 2022 re -election proposal. The court found that Bolsonaro was trying to provoke a military coup and poison his opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva. Bolsonaro, the former president of Latin America’s largest democracy and richest country, was sentenced to more than 27 years of imprisonment and a public official is re -sought.
Bolsonaro is one of the recently elected presidents and prime ministers. Democratic of their countries Institutions. In addition to weakening confidence in the elections, the Brazilian leader weakened the people and scientific Institutions breaking them. Bolsonaro’s family and political partners encountered repeated scandals. As a result, the President was ruled for fear of objection – a fate that ended the career of the two previous Brazilian presidents since the return of the country to democracy in 1998. To avoid this result, Bolsonaro established alliances with a series of legislature and strange bed feet. Brazilian political scientists Explain the implicit agreement: “The deal is simple: you protect me and let you manage the country and let you take the rents as you wish.”
Interestingly, the decision is also a decline for President Trump in the United States. Trump sees Bolsonaro as an ally, who is persecuted by leftists like him and opened an ordeal by the courts. The American President tried to stop the Brazilian court against Bolsonaro. In August, Trump sent a letter to Lula, the enemy of Bolsonaro. Trump threatened to rise to the United States, most of the tariffs on Brazilian export if his friend was in a legal danger.
Trump’s empathy reflects the parallel ways of the two presidencies. Bolsonaro used his time to test democratic norms, weaken independent public institutions and worsen their competitors. Both men express the taste of political violence. Trump was nostalgic for the military government in the Bolsonaro country where he often hid he Hecklers and attracting protesters to the knees. In the campaign leave in 2018, claimed Brazil will only change better to “kill 30,000 on the day we leave here in the civil war and do not do the work of the military regime.”
Both Trump and Bolsonaro tried to stick to power after losing their election proposals again. Trump’s supporters, who paid attention to the allegations of election fraud, rebelled in Washington on January 6, 2021 Like that of Bolsonaro in BrasiliaThe Brazilian capital is on January 8, 2023. Bolsonaro’s participation in post -election actions was the basis of the legal danger that consumed it.
Trump describes the most responsible Brazilian judge for Bolsonaro’s prosecution, and the chief justice Alexandre de Alexandre de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de de. Trump describes the case against Bolsonaro as a “witch hunt ve to support a Lula government and describes the current president as“ radical leftist ..
In fact, there is little love between Lula and Moraes. Lula is the leader of the Social Democratic Labor Party; De Moraes is closely related to the center -right PSDB and is known for its challenging stance on its crime. De Moraes’ activism is based on the presidency of Bolsonaro, which is less than energetic in protecting the rule of law, appointed by Bolsonaro of Brazil. In order to transfer the Brazilian situation and Moraes’s activism to the US context, John G. Roberts Jr.
Many Americans will see the story of Brazil and Bolsonaro with a certain jealousy. Here is a president who demands fraud and encouraging military and civilian supporters to violence and dealing with the loss of election.
The accountability of public officials is at the center of democracy. Voters officials may hold responsible in the elections – political scientists call it “vertical accountability – – the cointegle branches of the government, which we call“ horizontal accountability ”. Autocratic leaders such as Bolsonaro try to escape both types of accountability, and even when they lose, they stay in the office (the end of vertical accountability) and independent courts, agencies, central banks and whistle (horizontal version). Finally, Bolsonaro was taken into account by both voters and courts.
Trump’s self -introducing self -promotion to Bolsonaro prosecution disappeared from our own administration to the presidential restriction, or at least the presidential restriction. This is the restriction of presidents when counseling prevents them from acting according to the mindless instincts.
If such consultants were to be present in today’s White House, they may have advised the President not to threaten Brazil with high tariffs. Doing this is a politically dangerous thing that faces the risk of further deteriorating the inflation of key consumer goods (coffee, orange juice) prices, because the control of inflation was a problem in the heart of Trump’s 2024 re -election campaign. The use of tariff threats as a cudgel to try to save an ally from legal danger also lies to the reason behind tariffs: protecting US manufacturers or correcting trade imbalances.
So, the days when Americans might have served as a democratic governance model. For all its problems, the second largest country in our hemisphere is to educate us when it looks like democratic accountability.
Susan Stokes is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and the Chicago Democracy Center Teaching Director. Recently, “Backslides: Why are leaders weaken their democracies”.
