That a South American country’s democracy might be healthier than that of the United States is a notion that would have been unthinkable only a very short time ago. Not any more. Under the Trump regime America, often referred to as “the world’s leading democracy,” is sliding into authoritarianism.
On January 6th, 2021, the country suffered an insurrection. A violent mob of thousands stormed the Capitol with the intent of preventing Congress from certifying the 2000 presidential election. Incredibly, the mob was rallied by the president himself, Donald Trump.
Trump was impeached for his outrage but acquitted by the Republican-dominated Senate. The case went to the Supreme Court which allowed the case to be delayed. The court then ruled that presidents have broad immunity, a decision that sent the case off the rails. The country’s vaunted constitutional checks failed.
Brazil has not been so kind to its insurrectionist-in-chief. Like Trump, the loser of Brazil’s 2022 election, Jair Bolsonaro, rejected the results and mounted an insurrection, unleashing his ardent followers to ransack the presidential palace, congress and supreme court in the capital of Brasília. Apparently he had also plotted with elite army officers to assassinate the election winner Luiz Lula da Silva and Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Unlike his American friend, the “Trump of the tropics” did not escape justice. Five Brazilian Supreme Court justices recently convicted him of attempting a coup and sentenced him to over 27 years in prison.
President Trump has not been happy about his friend and admirer’s treatment. His administration is punishing Brazil with 50 percent tariffs and sanctioning Justice de Moraes. Yet another example of declining respect for the rule of law in the U.S.
Brazil in not intimidated. Brazilian President Lula has said, “The U.S. needs to know it’s not dealing with a banana republic.” Indeed, it is beginning to look like Brazil is the one dealing with a banana republic.
In an article in The New York Times, Lula scolds Trump about his tariffs while stating that he is “open to negotiating anything that can bring mutual benefits,” but he warns Trump that “Brazil’s democracy and sovereignty are not on the table.” It is somehow fitting that the leader of a democracy that has shown more resilience than that of the U.S. should lecture its president.
The U.S. is paying a high price for sending Trump back to the White House rather than to prison. In this, his second term, he is openly authoritarian, using government agencies to punish critics, threaten rivals and bully business, the media, law firms, universities and civil society groups. He shows contempt for both democracy and the law, and scorn for the constitution. And he’s got another three years (at least?) to play the dictator.