Why Brazil's 2022 election is a threat to American democracy

As I wrote back then, Bolsonaro used pages from the Trump playbook — lies, denials and threats — to survive the political fallout.

Bolsonaro has tapped into Brazil’s conservative sector and has made it his own, just like Donald Trump has done to the Republican Party in the United States.

While some of that can be attributed to da Silva’s past conviction in the huge “Operation Car Wash” corruption case, there is no denying that Bolsonaro has tapped into Brazil’s conservative sector and has made it his own, just like Donald Trump has done to the Republican Party in the United States.

The comparisons to Trump are not too far-fetched, especially since Trump praised Bolsonaro on Monday, posting that “for the sake of Brazil and its future greatness, they have to get Jair over the finish line, against a Radical Left Socialist.”.

Just like Trump, Bolsonaro will not give up the rigged election lie, even as many of his political allies won their races for governor and Congress on Sunday.

(In Bolsonaro’s eyes, only God can remove him from power, as he reportedly told supporters last year.) This, in addition to increased political violence in Brazil when compared to other election cycles, raises a scenario that Bolsonaro won’t ever concede power, severely testing a relatively young democracy that arose after a 1964 coup led to two decades of military rule.

In Brazil right now, the threats to democracy and the planet are real.

Just like Bolsonaro, Trump has found a way to downplay the urgency and importance of such threats.

In Brazil right now, the threats to democracy and the planet are real