Is Brazil's president really reaching for the Trump playbook? On Independence Day, Jair Bolsonaro is in the capital to lead a rally against Congress and the Supreme Court in what critics had warned could be his January 6 moment. Just like during the storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters, Bolsonaro claims the system is rigged, with corruption probes against the current administration gaining steam.
Trump may be out of office, but he is still the model for Brazil's far-right leader. We get the latest from Brasilia and the economic capital Sao Paulo, where Bolsonaro is due in the afternoon for another march. Sao Paulo is the stronghold of another populist: Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, the leftist former president who is now out of jail and ahead in the polls. Lula supporters were told to steer clear of Bolsonaro rallies, so as not to offer an excuse to suspend rule of law.
Could Brazil's far-right leader – himself a former army captain – really try some form of power grab? More broadly, how's the world's third-largest democracy holding up in these times of Covid-19 and populism?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.
