Autogolpe in Brazil?

Not my regular beat but some stuff going on in Brazil:

Brazilian police have raided the premises of several prominent business supporters of president Jair Bolsonaro days after leaked messages appeared to show the men backing a coup d’état if the far-right leader loses his re-election bid in October. Acting on an order from Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also heads the country’s electoral court, federal police on Tuesday launched a search operation in eight premises in five states, including São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The move highlights the growing sensitivity of the court towards threats to Brazil’s democracy ahead of what is expected to be a highly polarised election.

Bernie is on the case:

Earlier this summer, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) met with civil society leaders from Brazil who warned that President Jair Bolsonaro might not accept a loss in elections set for October. This has been widely discussed in international media, and Sanders came away from the meeting convinced that it’s not just idle chatter: The threat of a Bolsonaro coup is real.

Such fears have prompted Sanders and his staff to draft a resolution that would seek to get ahead of any such eventuality. It would express the view of the Senate that if Bolsonaro loses and refuses to step down, the United States will view it as an unacceptable outcome.

CIA getting involved, apparently on the same side as Bernie:

 The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director last year told senior Brazilian officials that President Jair Bolsonaro should stop casting doubt on his country’s voting system ahead of the October election, sources told Reuters.

Goes without saying that if the previous occupant of the White House had remained in power we could count on very little official discouragement on Bolsanaro’s authoritarian aspirations. When the President of the United States launches a coup attempt, it tends to have effects across the globe.