Brazil's Politics Are Collapsing in a Whirl of Illegal Money

After so much development in Operation Car Wash, former Brazil president Lula and his allies have resorted to very desperate means: calls protests and strikes to grind the country to a halt (which failed miserably, mind you), calls for early elections, promises to arrest journalists that "lied" about him, and support for a Supreme Court that decided to grant habeas corpus to convicted corrupt politicians. If that's not swinging for the fences in desperation, it's hard to know what is.

How did we get here?