For the last week, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been lounging around in Florida, at the vacation home of MMA fighter José Aldo, going to Mar-a-lago for dinners with Donald Trump, and sleeping in a "Minions"-themed bed.
“🚨POLÍTICA: Bolsonaro está hospedado na casa do ex-lutador José Aldo, em Orlando. Um dos quartos da mansão tem como tema os “Minions”.”
— CHOQUEI (@CHOQUEI) 1672494598
Meanwhile, his supporters have been camped out in Brasília, the nation's capital, desperately hoping for a military coup to reinstall their beloved fascist dictator.
With no signs of that happening after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was officially inaugurated into office last week, Bolsonaro supporters decided on Sunday to invade Congress, the presidential offices, and Supreme Court, trashing everything in their wake.
Via Washington Post:
Bolsonaristas occupied the National Congress building, many of them sitting or lying on the ground. A flag placed in front of the building read “intervention” — a reference to calls for the military to depose Lula, who defeated Bolsonaro in October.
Most wrapped themselves in the yellow and green of the Brazilian flag. Some shouted at police officers, “This is just the beginning” and “May God bless you and prevent you from acting against us patriots.”
Images broadcast by Globo TV showed smashed glass and protesters roaming the halls of the Planalto Palace, the office of the president. In an echo of the behavior of the U.S. insurrectionists, videos shared on social media showed Bolsonaro supporters taking trophies.
Protesters set off fireworks from the roof of Congress. Others waved the yellow and green jersey of the national soccer team — now a symbol of the far right — in the main chamber of the Supreme Federal Court. Bolsonaristas see the powerful court as an adversary.
Thousands more milled about a massive square similar to Washington’s National Mall, waving Brazilian flags and chanting, “God, fatherland, family and liberty.”
It's an obvious echo of January 6. Bolsonaro, like Trump, has claimed for months that the election was rigged against him. His supporters, like those Trump supporters who invaded our Capitol building, are violent far-right extremists fanatically devoted to a egomaniacal fascist.
Many of the protesters reportedly believed that by storming and trashing these buildings, the military would be forced to intervene and that when this occurred, the military would support them, overthrow the government in a military coup and put Bolsonaro back in office. They even cheered when the military did show up ... right up until the military started arresting them.
“Bolsonaristas comemoraram a chegada do Exército nos atos extremistas, mas foram detidos por eles minutos depois Vídeo: Reprodução Fotos: Metrópoles”
— Alan Rios (@Alan Rios) 1673215440
There are some differences. Unlike the January 6 insurrection, this siege took place on a Sunday when no lawmakers were there to terrorize, including Lula, who is out of town. Unlike the United States, Brazil has actually had a military coup — and indeed had an authoritarian military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. So these people actually did kind of have reason to believe that their sad, pathetic dreams might actually come true.
They have also found support among America's favorite election deniers. On Telegram, "Stop the Steal" organizer (and time traveler!) Ali Alexander wrote, "Floridians love Brazilians!So many Brazilians have moved here. Pleasure to be with my brothers in Democracy from Brazil today in Florida. We, Americans, have every obligation to protect and defend Bolsonaro’s stay with us. January Sixers ❤️ January Eighters."
On Gettr, the rightwing social media site we are always forgetting about, Steve Bannon posted a link to a story about the article with the text “Brazilian Freedom Fighters.”
On Twitter, Bannon's protegé Matthew Tyrmand tweeted, "Communists don’t understand that shooting your citizens doesn’t quell their commitment to defend their freedom/democracy/republic. It spurs them on. They’re revolting against the judiciary tyranny of @alexandre & his technocratic coup to install @LulaOficial . They’ll take back [Brazil].”
If you are wondering "has anyone blamed Antifa yet?” the answer is yes. Obviously.
“BRAZIL: Antifas put fire to blame Bolsinaristas, they're being filmed! Patriots don't do that! Brasilia January 8”
— Elizabeth Barreto (@Elizabeth Barreto) 1673219144
Bolsonaro offered a half-assed condemnation of the violence on Twitter that triedto "both sides" the situation.
“Public protests, by law, are part of democracy,” he tweeted. “However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those that were carried out by the left in 2013 and 2017, were outside of the law.”
Democrats, obviously, have condemned the insurrection. President Joe Biden issued a statement on Twitter reading, "I condemn the assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil. Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined," adding that he looks forward to working with Lula.
“[Bolsonaro] should be extradited to Brazil,” Rep. Joaquin Castro from Texas said to CNN’s Jim Acosta. “In fact, it was reported that he was under investigation for corruption and fled Brazil to the United States. He’s a dangerous man. They should send him back to his home country, Brazil.”
“You must have seen the barbarism in Brasília today," President Lula wrote on Twitter. "Those people we call fascists, the most abominable thing in politics, invaded the palace and Congress."
"Whoever did this will be found and punished," he continued. "Democracy guarantees the right to free expression, but it also requires people to respect institutions. There is no precedent in the history of the country for what they did today. For that they must be punished."
Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .
Wonkette is independent and fully funded by readers like you. Click below to tip us!