Fornazieri: Temer as president is an affront to national dignity.

by Aldo Fornazieri, professor at the School of Sociology and Politics, in GGN newspaper

The large front that formed to perpetrate the impeachment coup is slowly disintegrating. The point of convergence of this front was Operation Lava Jato. It was the standard, the waving flag, on which the cross was emblazoned to lead the purge of the corrupt who had seized control of the country. Sérgio Moro seemed to be a kind of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, whose opinions in the trials and mandates were veritable calls to the mobilization of crusaders. Or, perhaps, Bishop Fulk was one of the leaders of the Cathar Crusade to violently combat the heretics because, among other things, they wanted greater equality.

During the impeachment crusades, everyone was a saint: those who took to the streets, members of the judiciary, spokespeople for the mainstream media, politicians opposed to the Dilma government, the deputies involved in the indescribable spectacle of April 17th, the groups that advocated for the return of the military, etc. Saint Michel, with his retinue of angels and archangels, would purify Brazil with his gentle manner, his ability to converse, and his capacity to build consensus. Brazil, free from the red demons, would be unified, the economy would grow again in the blink of an eye, and the green and yellow mantle of order and progress would produce peace, contentment, jobs, and opulence.

This great lie, which intoxicated a large part of society, is today nothing more than a mirror shattered into a thousand pieces, all reflecting the face of the largest gang of corrupt individuals who seized power. All reflecting the faces of an indigestible group of politicians who jostle to participate in the orgy of privileged jurisdiction. All reflecting the faces of former accomplices who now want to burn the sacred banner in the crossfire aimed at blocking the march of liberation of the holy land. Even the saints, the leaders of the Knights Templar, Saint Bernard, are daily scorched by the flames that come from the barricades that attempt to block purifying justice.

The PMDB, the main beneficiary, has also become the main enemy of Lava Jato. It has already attempted several maneuvers in Congress to stop it. Now come the public attacks. Along with some right-wing columnists and bloggers, who took advantage of all the illegalities of Lava Jato and Judge Moro to overthrow the Dilma government, they are launching attacks against selective leaks, against the criminalization of politics, against coercive detentions, against keeping defendants in jail so they can make plea bargains, against the "dark side" of the operation, and so on. Investigating corrupt members of the PMDB and PSDB has become synonymous with "criminalization of politics." Against the PT it was a matter of "moral cleansing." But since the Temer government, the stench in the air has blocked even the rain in the skies of Brasília.

The PMDB is on the front line in the fight against Lava Jato. It acts like infantry, a kind of cannon fodder. The PSDB, on the other hand, acts like a special forces command group. It uses intelligence, has powerful infiltrators in the "enemy" trenches like Rodrigo Janot, Moro himself, Gilmar Mendes, Dias Toffoli, and the plagiarizing minister. Among the infiltrators, not all are friends. The only point of convergence is protecting the bigwigs of the PSDB. Some torpedo Lava Jato, even citing illegalities against members of the PT; others want to preserve it in what interests them.

The right-wing groups that sponsored the street mobilizations are now divided. On one side are those who want to save Temer to save the PSDB in 2018. Besides attacking Lava Jato, they accuse their former colleagues, labeling them "uncouth right-wingers," of playing into the left's hands because they want to continue mobilizing against corruption. However, the prospects for 2018 place the right wing at a crossroads, marching in different directions. The "uncouth right" wants the mobilizations to continue for two reasons: 1) staying with Temer could mean shipwreck; 2) they don't want a PSDB alternative, as they are engaged in building a more right-wing project – perhaps Bolsonaro, perhaps another Trump-style candidate.

Temer should resign and Moro should step aside.

It doesn't take much logical effort to understand what "Operation Mule," involving José Yunes, Eliseu Padilha, and Michel Temer, is trying to hide. The PMDB party had three leaders who received and distributed bribes: Michel Temer, Eduardo Cunha, and Eliseu Padilha. These weren't fortuitous, occasional acts, but systematic corruption operations plotted, including within the palaces of the Republic.

Temer's continued presidency was, is, and will be an affront to national dignity, social morality, and the fundamental concepts of the Federal Constitution. If any vestiges of national political community remain, Temer needs to step down or be removed. Here, a demand must be made of the vanished opposition: without Temer's removal, the future of political dignity, morality, and responsibility will be compromised for years to come. Without Temer's departure, the legacy will be the ruins of democracy and the perception that coups are worthwhile.

Judge Moro, for his part, no longer has the moral standing to remain in charge of Lava Jato. In a recent lecture given in the United States, he stated that he did not contribute to Dilma's downfall. He not only contributed decisively but, as is now known, acted deliberately to protect Temer's wrongdoing by canceling questions directed by Cunha's defense to the usurper president. By blocking Cunha's questions, Judge Moro committed two illegalities: 1) he blocked the right to defense, something that no judge should do; 2) he prevaricated, since the correct course of action was to allow the information that the questions intended to reveal to be understood.

Consider just two of the questions Moro blocked directed at Temer: "What is Your Excellency's relationship with Mr. José Yunes?" and "Did Mr. José Yunes receive any campaign contributions for any election of Your Excellency or the PMDB?". Moro classified the questions from Cunha's defense as "blackmail" and "provocations." It is clear that he acted to protect Temer, protecting a criminal scheme.

With each passing day, the evidence becomes more clear that it was the PMDB party that destroyed Petrobras through corruption. They destroyed it only to now hand over its assets to foreign capital. This government was established to liquidate Brazilian companies for a pittance, to surrender workers' rights to predatory capitalism, to sell the pensions of poor elderly people to financial capital, and to destroy public education and healthcare.

Now the media and right-wing sectors want to sell the following equation: politics are bad, but the economy is good, because the indicators are supposedly improving. To proclaim the fall in inflation and interest rates as a great achievement of this government is to sell smoke and mirrors, since both indicators are a consequence of the inertial effect of the recession. In reality, politics is rotten and the economy is doing badly. An economy with more than 12% unemployment cannot be doing well. An economy that creates new poor people every day cannot be doing well. An economy that destroys what little social security its people have is doing very badly.