Thiago Padovan

⏰ WAKE UP FRIENDS A text like this should be sent to those analysts who believe that Lula and the Workers' Party (PT) are democrats simply because they defeated the far-right at the ballot box. Dedicated to @anneapplebaum, @LarryDiamond, and @FukuyamaFrancis. Trumpism in the U.S. and the rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe (such as the AfD, Le Pen’s movement, Chega, Vox, etc.) have exposed a structural flaw in the analyses put forward by those who identify as democrats. These analysts overlook the growth of left-wing populist parties — such as the socialists embedded within the U.S. Democratic Party, Die Linke in Germany, or Mélenchon’s movement in France —failing to recognize that these groups are also illiberal and anti-pluralist. Furthermore, they often support the dictator Vladimir Putin and fail to defend the Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion. When they look at Brazil, they make the same mistake: they do not see that the PT is part of this very same populist left. They assume that the populist Lula is a democrat because he opposed the right-wing, bolsonarista brand of populism and defeated it electorally — all while turning a blind eye to the "anything-goes" tactics he employed to secure victory at any cost.