Brazil Jailed Its Trump-Like Leader After Insurrection. The US Elected Theirs.
What Happened On January 8, 2023, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro violently stormed federal buildings in Brasília, the country’s capital. The attackers invaded the Supreme Court, Congress, and presidential palace, demanding the overthrow of newly elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government. The insurrectionists, like their American counterparts two years earlier, claimed the election was rigged despite no credible evidence of fraud. Bolsonaro had lost the October 2022 presidential election to Lula by a narrow margin but refused to formally concede defeat, echoing Trump’s behavior after the 2020 US election.