After the assault on Brazil. The engine of populism on the right is conspiracy not fascism

Wisely wrote yesterday Anne Applebaum on the Atlantic that Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters, who stormed the Brazilian Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court on Sunday evening, demonstrated that the revolutions capable of becoming contagious are not only democratic ones but they are also anti- democratic. Applebaum naturally refers to the symmetries that exist between the assault on the Brazilian power buildings (January 8, 2023) and that on the American Congress (January 6, 2021). And, in particular, it refers to the way in which, in Brazil, the defeated president – who after losing the elections in November refused to participate in the inauguration of his successor – to delete the title of president of Brazil and to recognize that those who tried to attack Brazilian institutions were largely his followers – he chose not to accept the victory of his rival, just like Donald Trump.