[mseebach]

I'm a distant observer, so grain of salt: isn't the significance of Dilma's impeachment in the shift from quiet tolerance of corruption, to actually taking some action and demonstrating that not even the president is immune?

In other words, that there is a reasonable expectation (sure, let's see what actually happens now) that this incident will actually cost Temer his career, even if the scope of the incident is much smaller than what has previously been more or less silently tolerated?

[triangleman]

Brazil had previously impeached their first democratically elected president, Collor, on relatively trumped-up charges, similar to Dilma. This will be the first time Brazil actually impeaches a president on serious charges.

Edit: This article by Glenn Greenwald (a resident of Brazil) is informative:

https://theintercept.com/2017/05/18/after-latest-bombshells-...