America, Brazil, and the Illegitimacy of Weaponized Democracy
In recent years, it has become popular in parts of conservative discourse to discuss the “Brazilianization of America,” a reference to the challenges a large country faces in governing an increasingly multicultural “universal nation.” But this weekend, it was the Americanization of Brazilian politics that took center stage as pro-Bolsonaro forces rose up in aggressive protest against the newly inaugurated Lula regime, in a move reminiscent of what played out in Washington on January 6, 2021. The similar challenges facing America and Brazil, including concerns about the state of their democracies, is worthy of exploration, as is the global response to the protest and what that response means for those opposed to the current “neoliberal” international order.
At a time of concerns regarding covid, the policy ambitions of globalist institutions like the World Economic Forum, and the consequences of decades of America-led military involvement (and the immigration waves it inspires), there has been growing coordination between various right-wing political movements around the globe. The result in America has been increased fascination with countries like Victor Orban’s Hungary, right-wing celebrations over the success of Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and skepticism of figures celebrated on the international stage, like Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
Perhaps the American Right has no more direct parallel than the Bolsonaro faction in Brazil.
These similarities are not simply intellectual in nature. Jair Bolsonaro and his sons have become established figures at American conservative events such as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and were considered some of the strongest international allies Donald Trump had as president. Olavo de Carvalho, who was referred to in the United States as the “Rush Limbaugh of Brazil” prior to his death last year, was an influential popular philosopher for the Brazilian Right who shared intellectual curiosities (and dinners) with former Trump strategist Steve Bannon. And Gettr, one of the Twitter alternatives favored by the MAGA crowd before Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, has even invested in Brazil as a market of particular focus.
Brazil’s 2022 presidential election offered yet another commonality: the controversial election of a corrupt leftist politician following a political campaign marked by heavy, one-sided political censorship.
The recent release of the Twitter Files confirmed what was long obvious: America’s 2020 election was manipulated by a deliberate campaign to hide factual information detrimental to the campaign of Joe Biden. Twitter and other Big Tech companies acted in explicit coordination directed by Joe Biden’s campaign and DC bureaucracies. This possibly influenced the political behavior of voters even before additional concerns about the constitutionality of covid-inspired election law changes, the security of nontraditional voting methods, and general fears about the integrity of voting machines
Article from Mises Wire
