When thousands of far-right demonstrators stormed the U.S. Capitol building to pressure Congress to overturn the 2020 election results — in which Joe Biden soundly beat incumbent Donald Trump — many in the world saw the act as a chilling warning of the deterioration of one of the world’s longest-standing democracies. Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, meanwhile, saw it as inspiration.
Ever since the “Stop the Steal” rally, the Brazilian far-right has given signs that it wants a January 6 riot to call its own. Social media forums erupted with talks about violent acts in Brazil, and fringe platforms such as Parler experienced a spike in Brazilian users.
In March, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro — the president’s third-eldest son — lamented that the rioters in the U.S. weren’t organized enough to take the Capitol. “If they were, they would have the firepower to assure nobody [among the rioters] would die, kill all the cops inside — or the congressmen they hate so much. When the right is 10 percent [as organized as] the left, we will have civil wars in every Western country,” he said at the time.
Eduardo Bolsonaro was among the allies of Donald Trump accused of...
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