The links between Brazil’s far-right leaders and the US Stop The Steal activists suggest a globally-connected movement determined to attack democracy
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Some right-wing figures in the United States who helped fuel Trump’s ‘big lie’ are linked to the attacks of the pastors on Brazilian democracy, according to research. This may interest you : Viktor Orbán’s Illiberal Cheerleaders.
On Sunday, January 8, in scenes that resembled the uprising in the United States Congress in Washington D.C. more than two years ago, Jair Bolsonara’s right-wing supporters attacked the Congress. Brazil to protest against the 2022 election victory of former leftist President Luiz. Inacio Lula da Silva.
Supporters of ex-president Bolsonaro – who is currently on his way to Florida and who spent almost the 2022 vote threatening that the leftists will ‘steal’ the election – invaded the building, destroying valuable artefacts and and attack the heart of Brazilian democracy. .
In the continuation of the incident, Bolsonaro’s supporters camped outside military bases and called for a military coup, while they were planning to attack the Telegram social network.
Lula has vowed to punish the “fascists” responsible, condemning Bolsonaro for “encouraging” the violence – a charge he rejects. But those responsible go far beyond Brazil’s borders – with right-wing US figures fueling fascist anger on display.
The Trump of the Tropics
During his time in office, Bolsonaro has counted Trump as one of his closest allies – not least because of his anti-abortion interests, LGBTIQ policies, environmental destruction, and preference for disaster capitalism. on weather protection. See the article : Richmond cheerleaders sweep through Cheer Fest. Both presidents have promised to fight corruption: in its true sense this has less to do with financial inequality and more to do with attacks by nationalists, patriarchy.
So when it comes to insurgents who threaten his power, perhaps it’s no surprise that Bolsonaro has turned to Trump’s playbook – fearing that the election will be “stolen”, mostly by claiming that it has no foundation about the electoral process.
It is not necessary for the successful president to ask for advice and think far away on how to use the right base to lose faith in the democratic system. His son, Eduardo, has maintained close ties to the Trump administration, with Tom Shannon, a former senior US State Department official who specializes in Latin America, reported in the Financial Times that his son three “looked hard on January 6 to understand what. went wrong and why Trump didn’t win.”
Eduardo – who called his father “a freedom fighter” – was in Washington on January 6, 2021, but refused to comment on the events. He has met with Trump since the Brazilian election on October 30 last year, spending time at Mar-a-Lago talking to other political friends on the phone.
One of those phone calls was with Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon – a right-wing thinker who last week appeared in court to face criminal charges for refusing to comply with a subpoena from a House committee on the day. January 6 before he declared outside the court that he was. “taking the Biden regime” to fight the charges.
The couple first met in August 2018 in New York, and Bannon introduced Eduardo at an event in South Dakota in the summer of 2022. Bannon appointed him the South American representative of The Movement – his rightful job.
Eduardo tweeted that he and Bannon share the same views, especially on “cultural Marxism” – a far-right term and a popular hate dog.
The Washington Post reported that Bannon said that the two men discussed the challenges that may be faced as a result of the Brazilian election. Importantly in relation to the violence of the weekend, one of the topics of discussion is the strength of the protests in support of Bolsonaro.
Bannon described those who broke into Brazil’s parliament as “Brazilian Libertarians” on the social media site Gettr. His War Release podcast has previously shown support for Bolsonaro’s supporters camped outside military bases.
During the War Room interview, Bannon was joined by Project Veritas’ Matthew Tyrmand and former Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie to cast doubt on Brazil’s election results, citing similar tactics by the Trump administration and his supporters. use it in 2020. “There was fraud there,” Tyrmand said. Bannon claimed Bolsonaro’s victory “is mathematically impossible”.
Both claims have been proven false. The U.S. State Department considers Brazil’s voting system, which has never been registered or rigged since it was introduced in 1996, “a model for (Western) countries and the world.” “. The observers of the election also confirmed that the election was conducted in a fair manner.
The second former Trump aide advising the Bolsanaro family, according to the Washington Post, is former campaign spokesman Jason Miller, who is now the CEO of social media company Gettr. Eduardo had lunch with him during his autumn visit, where the two discussed freedom of expression. Gettr is where Bannon expressed his support for the attacks of conservatives in the Brazilian Parliament.
According to reports from Agencia Publica, quoted in openDemocracy, Bolsanaro’s relationship with the US ‘stop the theft’ goes beyond Trump and Bannon. A day before the uprising on January 6, 2021, Eduardo met with the CEO of MyPillow Mike Lindell, a pro-Trump movement, who in a dance during the uprising boasted that “my world look” and how he met Brazil … of the President of Brazil. love”.
Similarly, the organizer of the robbery, Ali Alexander, tweeted his support for the protesters, urging them to do “whatever is necessary”.
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As well as workers, Bolsonaro’s supporters also appear to have learned tactics from those involved in the January 6 attacks in Washington D.C. – perhaps not surprising given Shannon’s testimony that Eduardo wanted to learn from them. that would be wrong. This includes using Telegram to organize buses to drive people to Brasilia, in a scenario reminiscent of Turning Point USA organizing buses of protesters to reach the US Capitol two years ago.
In addition, Bolsonaro’s supporters took Trump’s request to see the ‘source code’ of the voting machines, after their leader expressed fear that the election would be rigged. Researcher John-Scott Railton tweeted that some of the alleged flags were made in English – prompting him to ask “who is advising the former president of Brazil?”
And finally, as in the United States in the past, right-wing Brazilians sought to portray the left as violent and undemocratic, as Trump dismissed the so-called ‘antifa’ as terrorist organization, instead of a great title of opposition to. fascist movement.
Lula condemned Bolsonaro and his followers, saying that he will bring those who committed the crime to court. But whatever happened next, the strategies and attitudes shared in this attack on Brazilian democracy tell us something about a world far away: they are connected, they advise each other, and they learn strategies from each other.
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