The similarities between Bolsonaro and Trump in their attitude towards the electoral defeat made it foreseeable that something like this would happen
That it has reached this point is no surprise. The polarization in Brazil already before the elections, which held their second round on October 30, was enormous. A few days before going to the polls, the Police were investigating death threats against Lula. It was just a sample of how far the spirits were shot, and a preview of what would come.
Bolsonaro did not help calm things down. After learning the final results, the far-right leader refused to admit his defeat and even in early November called on his followers “not to give up”, shouting “God in command!” Inflamed by the proclamations, his supporters blocked roads causing a collapse in the country. In this case, the former president did intervene to ask for calm in the face of the economic damage that the blockade was causing.
But that was not a lasting call for calm. In mid-November it was the Brazilian army itself that fueled suspicions of fraud in the elections, pointing out the “inconsistency of the electronic ballot boxes.” With such a breeding ground, fueled by silence one day, and harangues by Bolsonaro himself on another, on December 13, at the diploma delivery ceremony that accredited Lula as president-elect, there were acts of vandalism and the tension rose several degrees.
It was perceived very well at the end of December, when everything was preparing for the inauguration of the new president. Brazil held its breath before a possible attack that was not unreasonable to fear: a few days before an extreme right sympathizer had been arrested for trying to detonate a bomb near the federal capital.
With this background, and the many analogies between Bolsonaro’s actions and those of former US President Donald Trump, it is now little surprising that a copy of what happened in the Capitol happened in Brasilia almost exactly two years ago, because that happened on the 6th. January 2021.
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