Janurary 6th to January 8th Parallels

By Tara Kerimian

Many Americans are well aware of what happened on January 6, 2021. Many rightwing supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the Capitol They were under the false impression that the election had been stolen from him and that Joe Biden had somehow rigged it. Donald Trump was still in office when the attack occurred and chose not only to spur on the attack but also to sit back and watch it. Many members of his base violently marred Congress members' offices and threatened serious violence against former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi This was a once-in-alifetime historical event that people did not see coming.

However, on January 8, 2023, supporters of the rightord wing radical former Brazilian president Bolsonaro stormed the Brazilian Congress, Supreme Court, and Presidential Palace. He had recently lost the election to Workers' Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula The people broke into government offices, breaking windows, flipping over desks, and even bringing a hose to flood some. One such victim of this was Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s office

The people also sang the Brazilian anthem on the Senate floor, waving the Brazilian flag and proclaiming they were taking back the country Like many Americans, they believed the election to be stolen.

In Brazil, the storming of Congress ended within a few wd hours because Lula called in shock troops who cleared out the swarms of Bolsonaro supporters He also vowed to punish the people involved with up to 12 years in prison and to find and punish those who funded the attack as well. In America, police did come and try to stop the attack, but Trump was still in office and tried to divert the National Guard away from the scene. Also, he fought tooth and nail for investigations to not be run on it, but in the end, justice prevailed and many right-wing extremists went to jail for their violent behavior In Brazil, the democratic president was already in office, so it was easier for him to take control of the situation, and he had the military on his side as well