Originally published at: The Difference Between Coup Plotters Who Are Held to Account, And Those Who Aren’t - TPM – Talking Points Memo
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation. Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction on Sept. 11, 2025, puts the former Brazilian president in a rogues’ gallery of failed coup plotters to be held to account for their attempted power grab. Brazil’s Supreme Court found Bolsonaro guilty…
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John Roberts and the rest of the radical 6, take note of how a responsible court acts.
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Can we swap their courts for ours? Or, at least, their Supreme Court for ours?
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Stupid Ass Donnie ties his high tariffs on Brazilian imports to the way he perceives the judicial system of that country deals with its legal crimes of Bolsonaro, and I must pay unreasonable coffee price increases??? What a f_ckin’ self-centered buffoon! Brazil gets it, the USA doesn’t!!
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They don’t care; they think they’re untouchable, and they probably are. They are just pre-chosen cogs in the machine, all the intrigue and plots happened many years ago when Clarence Thomas and the others were put on the court.
I think the only way to redress this is to expand the court, which might be possible, someday, or not. If not, it’s done for our lifetimes, and America will not have fair or meaningful elections for a few decades or longer.
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That whole article and no mention of what was probably the main reason Bolsonaro failed and Trump escaped punishment.
Brazil has 100% electronic voting. It’s done on a national level, with everyone voting on local machines where the software is vetted by each political party. On election day, results are announced that same night and that’s it! No challenges, no backsies. No months of court challenges from different provinces. You win or you lose, and an insurrection has to surmount that electoral truth.
For obvious reasons we can’t use that system here, but it’s why Bolsonaro is going to jail and Trump isn’t. We have a far more complicated system that’s easier to manipulate (including the SCOTUS that delivered the final hammer blow).
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Respectfully diverge: Trump actually did win. You know who knew this? Harris’ own polls. After that initial and very brief burst, Harris’ polls showed they were always behind. Not any happier than you are.
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The United States has been hampered by this concept that the Presidency is an office of such dignity and yada yada that it should not be subjected to plebian assaults on its dignity, like prosecution for crimes committed while in office, even after the man (always) leaves office. Heck, they have even insisted that one of their own be pardoned for crimes that were never brought to trial! To “heal the nation.”
Not surprisingly, Republicans have pushed this meme. Not surprisingly, they’ve pushed it when the President in question was a Republican. Even less surprisingly, it doesn’t apply to Democratic presidents (Hi, Bill!)
The United States, when it’s under sane management again, needs to dump that crap. Even Republicans – and especially Republicans these days – need accountability.
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Sorry if I wasn’t clear. Of course Trump won if we’re talking 2024. I was referring to the 2020 election, where Trump escaped prosecution for trying to overturn that election.
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Apologies, my bad. You’re absolutely correct, and where even to begin? Happy, Mitch?
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Biden should have consciously put in someone at DOJ who would prosecute aggressively anyone who violated the Constitution in the way Trump did. Merrick Garland was the worst choice–moderate, timid, trying to avoid controversy. Acting from weakness, not strength. If he had moved fast and hard against Trump and his plotters, things would be different. Somehow I got the feeling the Biden Admin thought it made good theater to appoint the guy to DOJ who the GOP denied a seat on SCOTUS. But as someone wrote elsewhere, Garland has the temperament of a judge and what was needed was the attitude of a prosecutor. Wrong guy for the job.
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To borrow an aphorism, don’t blame conspiracy when bigotry provides a simpler explanation. Yes, right-wing groups like the Federalist Society have spent the better part of 50 years slowly working to align the courts and by extension the government to their regressive viewpoints. But what we’re seeing in recent years wasn’t part of some grand plan to overthrow the systems of government, it’s the by byproduct of winnowing away at the professionals who wanted control of the government, leaving the dregs of the GOP barrel to bicker over the scraps of power.
Instead of ending up with an compliant, organized, government politely doing the bidding of the wealthy while throwing just enough to the workers to minimize discontent, we’ve got an id-driven President, disinterested in the work of leadership, delegating authority to toadies who are ready to exercise power to get revenge on their perceived enemies.
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they all need to be held accountable for what they say in public or on line.
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