Sore losers are backsliding democracy
Donald Trump shakes hands with Jair Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago. (Photo: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg)
Trump at the center of it all
In the US, the House Select Committee opened a landmark set of hearings last Thursday to investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol. The opening night contained several damning revelations about the attempted coup orchestrated by Donald Trump.
Vice Chair Liz Cheney said the committee had received testimony that when Trump learned of the mob’s threats to hang Vice President Mike Pence, he said, “Maybe our supporters have the right idea,” and added that Pence “deserves it.”
Another video showed former Attorney General William P. Barr testifying that he knew the president’s claims of a stolen election were false, followed by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner failing nepotism as they conceded to Barr.
A Trump campaign adviser, Jason Miller, and Alex Cannon, a campaign lawyer, both told the panel that they saw no evidence of irregularities sufficient to change the election result.
The succeeding hearings are expected to cover Trump’s seven-point plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election over the course of several months, including a plan to oust the attorney general and wield the Justice department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its election results, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to throw out legitimate electoral votes for Biden.
Future hearings will also outline how Trump had long called Jan. 6 as a day of reckoning, and on the day itself, assembled the mob with an incendiary speech—wherein he called the outcome “this egregious assault on our democracy,” inciting his supporters to “walk down to the Capitol.” To which, thousands of insurrectionists heeded the call and Donald Trump did nothing to stop the deadly assault for more than three hours while it was underway.
Bolsonaro's power move
The US Capitol has shown that peaceful transfers of power are no longer a guarantee in mature democracies, let alone younger ones like Brazil that endured a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil has consistently trailed in the polls ahead of the country’s presidential race. In turn, he has consistently questioned its voting systems, that if he loses October’s election, it will most likely be to stolen votes.
For years, the president has launched an attack on the electronic voting system Brazil has relied on for 25 years despite the lacking evidence of fraud. Unless voters get to record their choice on paper ballots, Bolsonaro has warned that the 2022 election could be suspended.
But get this, Bolsonaro’s conspiracy theories began when he emerged as the presidential front-runner following the October 2018 election. Instead of celebrating, Bolsonaro stunned everyone by claiming that he had been robbed of an outright victory: that he should have won with more than 50% of votes rather than a 10% margin.
It almost makes the incumbent Philippine President paying P66.2M to file an electoral protest over his marginal loss during the 2016 elections look reasonable. Almost, if Bongbong Marcos Jr.'s track record after his loss was anything worthwhile.
In the 37 years of Brazil’s modern democracy, no president has been as close to the military as President Bolsonaro, a former army captain.
Bolsonaro has tripled the number of military personnel in civilian posts in the federal government to nearly 1,100—if this sounds familiar, it’s because the same trend exists in the Philippines. His vice president is a former general and so are most of his cabinet. Now, it's time the military has returned the favor.
Military leaders were given a spot on a transparency committee created for the elections and are identifying ‘vulnerabilities’ in the voting systems. Some perceived irregularities in voting returns; a 2018 hack of the electoral court’s computers that didn’t connect to the voting machines; and election officials’ dismissal of the military’s complaints.
The military has also suggested to conduct its own parallel count.
With just over four months until the high-stakes elections, a division is forming. On one side, the president, military leaders, and right-wing voters arguing the election is open to fraud. On the other, politicians, judges, foreign diplomats, and journalists are ringing the alarm that Bolsonaro is setting the stage for a coup.
How Robredo does it
If ever Trump, Bolsonaro, and their supporters want to know how to face defeat with some dignity, they need to look no further than outgoing VP Leni Robredo. After losing her presidential bid, her NGO Angat Buhay, a continuation of her pro-people advocacy and volunteerism, is set to start in July on the same day Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s term for the next six years will begin.
“On the first day of July, the Angat Buhay NGO will be launched. The widest volunteer center in the history of the country will be formed. We continue to serve those who are in the margins and contribute in their uplifting,” VP Robredo promised.
