The recent attack on the presidential palace in Brazil bears a seeming resemblance to the events of January 6, 2021, at the United States Capitol. For Professor of Political Studies Omar G. Encarnación, however, the similarities are in appearances only. In The Nation, he examines how Brazil’s democracy is better designed to withstand threats. “Even though political violence driven by conspiracy theories and mass delusion about a stolen election will forever unite the Trump and Bolsonaro administrations, Brazilian democracy fared better than American democracy under a president who was hell-bent on undermining the institutions and norms that he was elected to protect,” he writes.