(The government of leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pictured, has survived a January 6th-like attack on Brazil’s Congressional building, federal court and presidential palace by supporters of right-wing ex-President Jair Bolsonaro.)
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Brazil’s 1/6 on 1/8 -- Inspired by the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol in support of Donald J. Trump’s Big Lie, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s far-right populist ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Congressional building, federal supreme court and presidential Panalto Palace in Brasilia (Semafor, NPR and AP) Sunday, demanding military intervention to return the government to the ex-president. Security forces have since regained control, says NPR’s Morning Editon. Leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva beat Bolsonaro for the presidency in a close runoff last October.
He’s Gone to Disney World!: Bolsonaro, who has long made claims of “election fraud,” much like ex-President Trump begun well prior to the 2020 U.S. election, did not attend da Silva’s inauguration, and has been in Orlando, Florida, since at least last December, Morning Edition reports.
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McCarthy’s Next Fight – Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) next battle was set to begin Monday night, as he faces potential opposition – this time from moderate Republicans -- against his rules package for the 118th Congress. Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) are concerned over the concessions McCarthy had to make to hard-right MAGA House Republicans in order to get the majority vote for the speakership, including gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics, NPR’s Morning Edition says.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa
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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news
(PHOTO: Brazil's president-elect, Lula da Silva)
Transition Without Concession – President Jair Bolsonaro indicated he would hand over Brazil’s reins to the leftist candidate who defeated him in last Sunday’s runoff elections, NPR’s All Things Considered reports. In a news conference in Brasilia that lasted less than two minutes, Bolsonaro said “As a president and as a citizen I will continue to follow all the commandments of our constitution.”
Bolsonaro did not mention the name of Brazil’s president-elect, Luiz Inåcio Lula da Silva.
Eager for Victory Speech – Meanwhile in Israel, Benyamin Netanyahu, prime minister from 1996-99 and again from 2009-21, “holds an edge” in the country’s election, based on exit polls, The New York Times reports, and his Likud party already is celebrating ahead of the final count. If his lead holds, Netanyahu will reclaim power and preside over “one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history,” even as he is on trial for corruption charges related to his previous term as PM, according to the Times.
Netanyahu has at least one thing in common with Brazil’s defeated presidential candidate, Bolsonaro: A fondness for former U.S. President Donald Trump.
--TL
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Da Silva Wins Brazil; Will Bolsonaro Trump Him? (MON 11/1/22)
Leftist Luiz Inåcio da Silva (above) defeated first-term incumbent Jair Bolsonaro for president of the world’s fourth-largest democracy in Brazil’s run-off elections Sunday with 50.9% of the vote, the Associated Press reports. With 99.9% of the ballots counted, Brazil’s election authority proclaimed da Silva’s victory a mathematical certainty.
By 10 p.m. local time, three hours after the results were tabulated, the lights went out in the presidential palace in Sao Paolo without any hint of a concession from Bolsonaro, AP says. Before the run-off forced when da Silva led the October 2 election but was short of the 50% necessary for an outright win, Bolsonaro had made repeated and unproven Trumpian claims of potential electoral manipulation, and it remains uncertain whether he will concede without further fight.
Da Silva had served as Brazil’s president from 2003-10, but his imprisonment for corruption sidelined him in his 2018 bid for the presidency. He beat Bolsonaro by fewer than 2 million votes, the slimmest margin since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985, according to AP. The country tabulates ballots electronically; thus the quick results Sunday.
Upshot: After September’s election of Giorgi Meloni’s far-right, nationalist Brothers of Italy party in that country, da Silva’s victory over nationalist Bolsonaro is considered a much-needed win for the future of liberal democracy around the world.
Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa
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COMMENT: editors@thehustings.news