Not sure about China. Russia definitely. Trump was stopped, at least for the time being. Brazil's democracy and constitution is much more fragile than the United States.

@barjoe DeSilva will beat Bolsonaro at the next General election. 2 October 2022. That's my prediction

@dermot235 If Bolsonaro doesn't declare martial law and suspend the election, DeSilva could win. Trump would've if he could've. Bolsonaro will and he can. They aren't the world's oldest continuous current democracy like USA 245 years. They've had a military dictatorship as recently as 1985. He fired defense minister and their joint chiefs. That is politicizing the military. Look at Myanmar.

@barjoe I think you might be wrong about this. Democracy should survive in Brazil. But can I say it will survive 100%. No I cant. But I think it will. The Military in Brazil like Bolsonaro like John McCain liked Trump.

@dermot235 Military stood up to Trump, he did fire Secretary of Defense, a civilian post, but he couldn't remove the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bolsonaro just did. Don't compare John McCain to Jair Bolsonaro, please. I hope you're right tho. I fear it will go the other way.

@barjoe Comparing John McCain to the good people in the Brazilian Military. The Brazilian military has made a lot of progress since the days of the dictatorship. They may even stand up to Bolsonaro just like John McCain stood up to trump

@barjoe Just a note on your 245 year old democracy. Spain has only had democracy since the mid 1970's and its democracy is stronger and more fair than that which you now have in the US. IMHO

@dermot235 Is it? I believe although you may think it's more progressive and more of a pure democracy and I would agree, Spain more fragile than the United States.

@barjoe Spain used to be run by Franco. A conservative Catholic dictator. Spain has overturned Franco's policies in every respect. Spain is pro Choice. Has progressive taxes including a wealth tax. Was one of the first european countries to legalise same sex marriage. Spain's 2 biggest political parties are a centre Right party and a centre left socialist party. And no political party has ever contested the outcome of an election. An attempted coup in the early 1980's lasted about 20 minutes when a lone gunman entered the parliament buildings. The Military and all political parties, and the royal family all condemned this attempted coup. Spain's EU membership is conditional on being a democracy and the EU is very popular in Spain. Spain also has rank choice voting or PR voting as we call it in Europe. Districts in Spain are decided by an independent electoral commission, not by the winning side as is the case in the US. Spain is a democracy. The US is a Republic. A republic can also be a democracy but does not have to be. And in the US I don't believe you have a democracy anymore. You have minority rule made effective by the Electoral college, Gerrymandering of Districts. And 2 senators for every state no matter what the population of each state is. That's not democracy. And when the results don't suit One side you have an insurrection. Spain has a more stable democracy than the US by any metric. In fact the US now effectively has minority rule for the most part. the Filibuster, 80% of state elections go to Republicans. A result due to Gerrymandering. And there is no european country I know of where you have to get in line to vote for 1 hour, 2 hours or 4 hours. We don't have voter suppression, and it's not illegal to give people food and water who are lining up to do anything, never mind vote. The US has a lot of work to do to even come near the level of democracy achieved in Spain.

@dermot235 Calling Franco a conservative is like calling Hitler a conservative. Spain has been a horrible fascist dictatorship for all but the last 40 years. The United States has been a Republic since 1776. Spain is not perfect either but it's become a progressive country. This post is about Brazil. Brazil, a country with 230 million people, is in peril of falling to a military junta. I hope not but it looks like it could happen.

@barjoe Calling Franco a Conservative Catholic Dictator is not a term of endearment. He did murder 500,000 people and ran concentration camps. I am aware of that. But he was not a fascist. And that is not something I say to make it seem that he was not an evil man. As for the other point you said, that Spain was more fragile than the United States when it comes to Democracy. I thought it was important to confront that, as it is not true. Not even near true. Unfortunately it is becoming more and more difficult for the US to talk about how strong other democracies are when insurrections take place in your own capital. I think part of the problem here is that the US sees itself as being so exceptional in so many ways, and fails to see how its democracy has failed its own people and in many ways is not even a democracy in itself. Having a democracy that is 245 years old does not make it superior to other democracies. My country Ireland has had a democracy for 100 years now and I consider our democracy to to be far stronger and far more effective and more representative of the people than what exists in the US now, or was ever the case over the past 245 years. As for Brazil. I do not believe that there is any appetite by the military to take over the country. The Military quite obviously do not have any respect for Bolsonaro and do understand that the most likely path out this mess is elections to replace him. For that reason alone I believe democracy is safe in Brazil. Maybe even safer that it is in the US at this moment in history. When a new Voting rights act is passed by congress in the US, I may change my position on this. In the meantime the US really does need to get its own house in order. The rest of the worlds democracies are looking on while 40 states roll out voter suppression laws and they wonder if the US will ever be a real democracy. You have a lot of work to do. And I sincerely hope you are successful.

This is news today. It appears Jair Bolsonaro will declare martial law and prevent new elections. I'm aware of the situation in the United States. This is the second largest country in our hemisphere. I don't think we should "forget Brazil" this will affect what happens here. In spite of what Nationalists think this is a Global world. What happens in other places affects us.

The US supported every Dictator in Latin America for most of the last 100 years. Even sponsoring and aiding military Coups that overthrew Democratically elected governments. And now you want to forget about them. Shame on you