The assault on the U.S. Capitol was a blueprint for Jan. 8 events in Brasilia. Americans should be hoping that accountability can serve as a model, too.

By Editorial Board

January 10, 2023 at 11:35PM

Police in riot gear are seen through a shattered window as they form up outside Planalto Palace after supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on Jan. 8. Planalto is the official workplace of the president of Brazil. (Eraldo Peres, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Two years and two days after a MAGA mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, a similarly constituted pack attacked Brazil's Congress, Supreme Court and presidential offices.

The events in the two countries were alarmingly similar and both were spurred by lies from former presidents about their election defeats.

In America, it was former President Donald Trump, who whipped up a crowd hours before Congress was set to certify the election of President Joe Biden. Trump lied then about a stolen election and has continued — in fact, amplified — his "Big Lie," which a distressing and dangerous number of Republican voters and lawmakers continue to parrot.

In Brazil, it was former President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost an October election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (usually called just "Lula"). But like Trump and his supporters, neither Bolsonaro nor his supporters have any evidence. Just grievance.

The grievance was fed by Bolsonaro, who never publicly conceded and refused to attend Lula's inauguration — just like Trump snubbed Biden's swearing-in. And it was fed by right-wing alternatives to responsible mainstream news organizations, as well as unchecked social media lies that became fact to disillusioned supporters.

Americans should pay attention. Brazil isn't just a geographic behemoth, it's a democratic one, too. And at a time when democracy is in decline globally and is threatened regionally in neighboring nations such as Venezuela, Peru and even Colombia, it's vital that Latin America's most populist country not devolve into mob rule.

Similar to the U.S., Brazil is "deeply, deeply divided," Valentina Sader, associate director of the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, told an editorial writer. Sader, the council's top expert on Brazil who had returned from her native nation the morning of the insurrection, added that the attack on all three branches of government shows the "sharp polarization" gripping the country.

Confirming that Bolsonaro and his supporters "have no evidence" for their claims of a rigged election, Sader said that like the post-2020-election period in the U.S., "months of conversation and doubts in questioning the legitimacy of the electoral process has brought us in a way to this moment."

The moment looks like a movement of right-wing populists not acceding to the will of the population they claim to represent, whether it be in Washington, Brasilia or possibly soon elsewhere. "It's a sign of the extreme right trying to undermine democracy," Sader said, adding that ultimately, however, "it's a failed attempt."

That prediction is reassuring. But it could be fleeting. That's why it's imperative that those responsible be held accountable. Doing so will take political will, which may prove difficult in a Brazilian society riven with divisions.

Investigations must take place and include what role, if any, some members of Brazil's armed forces and/or police played in actively supporting or tacitly allowing the protests to transpire. To the security forces' credit at least 1,200 protesters were detained after the attack, numbers far higher than in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol assault in Washington.

And the Brazilian government must not flinch from investigating Bolsonaro's role in inspiring, however passively, the protests. (Currently, like his close ally Trump, Bolsonaro is in Florida, where he decamped before Lula's swearing-in earlier this month.)

Just as Jan. 6 was a blueprint for Jan. 8, what happened next in America can help lead Brazil beyond its democracy's dark hours.

The U.S. House Jan. 6 investigation was an exemplar of responsible, thorough and thoughtful fact-finding. Two leaders unblinkingly seeking the truth were Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. Most of the witnesses were also Republicans, repulsed by a president who tried to usurp our democracy.

Disgracefully, however, the other House Republicans — including new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Minnesota's GOP delegation — refused to take part in this essential exercise in defending democracy. This political cowardice should be an example for Brazilians of what not to do in the aftermath of an attack on a nation's most fundamental institutions.

Another profound lesson the U.S. can provide for Brazil is judicial independence — the kind on display as the Justice Department carefully considers the Jan. 6 panel's criminal referral of Trump regarding his role in Jan. 6.

U.S. efforts at uncovering the truth and pressing for accountability should be a model for Brazil. It's "an area where the United States could potentially be an ally and share experiences in terms of what next steps could be," Sader said, adding that "democracy in Brazil is very important for United States' interests."

Indeed, projecting and protecting democracy is of vital interest everywhere. As Jan. 6 in Washington and Jan. 8 in Brasilia show, democracy is fragile — but always worth defending.