Two Capital Riots. Two Very Different Results.

[okfine]

They were two shocking attacks on the Western Hemisphere’s two largest democracies, both broadcast around the world and both prompted by presidents who had questioned their legitimate election losses. Each posed an extraordinary test of the country’s democracy, and each raised the question of how a deeply polarized society would move forward in the wake of such an assault.

The parallel attacks have had nearly opposite aftermaths. In the United States, support is soaring for Donald J. Trump’s campaign to retake the White House, as he frames his 2020 election loss as the real insurrection and Jan. 6 as “a beautiful day.”

At the same time, his counterpart in Brazil, the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, has quickly faded into political irrelevance. Six months after he left office last year, electoral officials barred him from running again until 2030, and many right-wing leaders have shunned him.

So why have there been such contrasting reactions to such similar threats? Researchers and analysts point to a multitude of reasons, including the countries’ differing political systems, media landscapes, national histories and judicial responses, but one difference especially stands out.

Leaders on Brazil’s right “publicly, clearly, unambiguously accepted the results of the election and did exactly what democratic politicians are supposed to do,” said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard professor of government and co-author of the book “How Democracies Die,” who studies both the American and Brazilian democracies. “That is strikingly different from how Republicans responded.”
Two Capitol Riots. Two Very Different Results.

Ten years ago I never would have predicted the right wing in Brazil, or any country, would display more respect for the constitutional order than the right wing in the US. Then MAGAism happened.

The takeaway is this. There was a small window of opportunity to rid ourselves of the Orange Menace shortly after his failed attempt to deny the will of the voters and steal the presidency. A window that closed when Repub leadership in Congress, and in conservative media, recognized the failed coup had not dented The Following's maniacal devotion to their Dear Leader.

To this day no one has really been able to explain the bond they feel to such a piece of shit.

Bolsonaro, exiled in Florida. He's a dead man in Brazil.

 

[jbrownson0831]

No it wasn't and if you think that's going to propel Biden to be relected you'll be disappointed

Poor cotex, so stupid.....

 

[berg80]

In what seemed to be an effort to bolster political contributions in the heat of the 2020 election against now President Joe Biden, the Trump 2020 campaign reportedly duped supporters into making recurring donations without their explicit or known consent.

An investigation of Federal Election Commission records done by the New York Times found that the Trump campaign, in the last two months of 2020, was forced to give hundreds of thousands of refunds in the amount of about $64 million. In total the campaign refunded $122 million, the newspaper said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tru...-supporters-donors-recurring-donations-2021-4

Just one, relatively minor, incident of many more for which he has paid no political price.

 

[Lesh]

Who would have thought that a South American country would have a stronger commitment to democracy than the United States

 

[22lcidw]

Who would have thought that a South American country would have a stronger commitment to democracy than the United States

All of those people leaving there to come here is proof of that. We are not going to find nirvana with the socialism you want. Eventually the population will fit what is afforded. And we know how that goes.

 

[berg80]

Who would have thought that a South American country would have a stronger commitment to democracy than the United States

It shows the extent to which Trumpery has eroded our fundamental democratic principles inside the former GOP.

 

[Dragonlady]

To be honest, I had not stayed abreast of Bolsonaro's fate in Brazil. I had no idea he had been so quickly rejected. But I understand why.

What I don't understand is Trump's continued popularity. Because it runs counter to everything I thought I understood about Americans.

Trump's continued popularity would end tomorrow if Republican leadership and the right wing media abandoned him. But both the media and the Party are afraid of their own voters. They have so thoroughly radicalized the base, and demonized Democrats, that they've lost control of the base and now fear them.

 

[Dragonlady]

All of those people leaving there to come here is proof of that. We are not going to find nirvana with the socialism you want. Eventually the population will fit what is afforded. And we know how that goes.

No one is looking for "nirvana". They just want a government that works FOR THE PE0PLE, and not the billionaire owners of right wing media,

You don't tailor your country to fit the number of people you want. You build a country to fit the number of people you HAVE.

 

[GMCGeneral]

Oh, I thought you were referring to Trump's inauguration when you communist ASSHOLES burned down half of DC.
My bad.

Oh yes. How the Communists forgot that.

 

[GMCGeneral]

Trump's continued popularity would end tomorrow if Republican leadership and the right wing media abandoned him. But both the media and the Party are afraid of their own voters. They have so thoroughly radicalized the base, and demonized Democrats, that they've lost control of the base and now fear them.

As we REAL Americans, not the pinhead Communists that forced BiDumbfuck and Kamala the kumquat on us should view them. You leftist pieces of dogshit are the ENEMY!!!!!

 

[berg80]

Trump's continued popularity would end tomorrow if Republican leadership and the right wing media abandoned him. But both the media and the Party are afraid of their own voters. They have so thoroughly radicalized the base, and demonized Democrats, that they've lost control of the base and now fear them.

Spot on.

 

[berg80]

As we REAL Americans, not the pinhead Communists that forced BiDumbfuck and Kamala the kumquat on us should view them. You leftist pieces of dogshit are the ENEMY!!!!!

Thanks for that eloquent contribution to the thread.

 

[GMCGeneral]

Thanks for that eloquent contribution to the thread.

Stfu dogshit.