On the surface, what can the USA now learn about Politics from Brazil?
In 2014, Dilma Rousseff's election was contested by Aecio Neves who wanted to put forward a recount for the votes. What then ensued was a culture war with the right-wingers taking to the streets in droves which ultimately lead to the rise of Jair Bolsonaro, arguably a man who is more dangerous and controversial than Donald Trump.
Joe Biden now has to fix Trump's America and bring a broken society together. This will be difficult as the disenfranchised tend to and will not respond to the broad middle ground, especially when than broad middle ground’s sole policy is ‘we are not Trump’.
So if Trump is comparable to Aecio Neves and Brazil in 2014, it is only sensible to make the assumption that the gates of hell may not have yet actually opened and everyone with half a brain cell should exercise a level of caution as there could be something worse around the bend. There is one individual who happens to be the architect of modern demagoguery and one of the most dangerous and effective parasites on earth which could fill this hypothetical future void, I am of course referring to Steve Bannon.
This is obviously a contentious argument that Bannon could run for President in 2024 and win or could lead a constitutional coup to end Biden (which was the case for the right-wing parties in Brazil, where Bolsonaro made a name for himself by dedicating his vote to a man who was in charge of a unit which tortured Dilma under Brazil’s previous military dictatorship). It is instead a warning that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, have an Everest size mountain to climb in regard to uniting a fractured country. They may actually do a better job with their counterparts abroad where in Brazil Bolsonaro will lose his alley, and in the United Kingdom Boris Johnson will have to scramble to rearrange his strategy for getting a transatlantic trade deal. This is because Biden has contempt for Brexit and the Brexiteers, that on the whole aligned with Donald Trump and also lean right.
Thus, Trump incorrectly claiming he has won this election means Trump and Trumpism isn’t going to just vanish, it's still the overdramatic background artist on the stage at the pantomime. This means the United States may have to start looking more closely at countries like Brazil to critically think about how they manage and interpret their own political arenas and procedures. There are unfortunately huge hurdles ahead for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and US society as a whole, and we should all hope and pray that there isn’t a more serious and dangerous villain waiting in the wings.
