Brazil and the US: Same crime, different fate

If Donald Trump were a religious man, he might have said "There but for the grace of God go I" when he heard that former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro had been sentenced to 27 years in prison.

- Gwynne Dyer

Bolsonaro's crime was to have plotted a coup to take back the presidency he lost in the 2022 election.

Mr Trump is acutely aware of the similarities between Bolsonaro's case and his own bumbling, halfhearted attempt to incite a coup on Jan 6, 2021. Both men were voted out after a single term in office, both immediately declared that the election had been "stolen" by the opposition, and both then chickened out of a coup at the last moment.

Mr Trump feels the parallels so keenly that he did not just condemn the Bolsonaro trial, claiming that it was a "witch-hunt". Although the United States has a positive trade balance with Brazil, Mr Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on imports from Brazil as an explicit punishment for putting his friend and ally on trial.

Mr Trump must be feeling close to allpowerful right now. Only eight months into his second term after a triumphant comeback election, he is nearing the point where he can sweep the whole 238-year-old constitutional apparatus of the United States aside and rule by decree.