ADRIANO BARCELOS

Brazil and the United States have differences when it comes to their political choices. Despite the fact that both are democracies, their electoral systems are diverse, and their political cultures have been built on different foundations. The so-called American democratic maturity has proven fallacious over this century. Brazilian fragilities, on the other hand, might be reevaluated. As has been exhaustively said, our democracy went through its biggest stress test— and, in the end, it prevailed.

Politics is dynamic, and election periods, in the age of the internet, prove to be dizzying. The dynamics of excluding Joe Biden, due to manifest senility, was a true lesson in electoral attacks and counter-attacks. He is an old man and would perhaps be unmanageably older in four years, when he would leave a potential future and hypothetical new government. Donald Trump, faced with the chessboard, was a victim of his own wishes. He wanted so badly to take the queen of the black pieces that he handed over his own white king on a silver platter. Checkmate. He attacked Biden to the point of eliminating him and brought upon himself the new fact that exterminated the empathetic factor of the shot he suffered last week: Kamala Harris.

The sword he wielded turned against Trump’s own neck. From slanderer to slandered. Until Sunday, Biden was the oldest man wanting to govern one of the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. Today, it is he, the tanned-orange former president, the oldest one.

Globalist far-right impulse cannot be ignored

In Brazil, there are those who follow the American election with disdain. There are those who follow it with interest. There are even those who root for one candidate or another. Blergh. Aside from boastful demonstrations, the American election, yes, concerns us. The global far-right moves with globalist aspirations—something they claim to despise. A Trump victory would also be a Bolsonaro victory. Many say that if Trump had been in the White House on January 8, 2023, Brazil’s fate could have been different. This globalist far-right impulse cannot be ignored. No flag in the window or sticker on the car—but the U.S. election is our business. Oh yes, it is.

Biden’s fall projects us onto another important parallel: what about Lula in 2026? He will be an 81-year-old man, and although nothing suggests a senility similar to Biden’s (who is also 81), it cannot be ignored that this might be an issue in the next presidential election.

What do we think might happen? Actually, it all depends on the outcome of the American elections. If Trump wins, Bolsonarism, with or without Bolsonaro, could gain momentum. If he loses, besides a defeat for the global far-right, there will be a rather pedagogical example: attacking an opponent because of his age can wear him down to the point that some new factor, a Kamala or someone who looks like her, fresh and new, could emerge and complete the task.