polarization has reached a point where even the defense of relatively elementary national interests is interpreted through the lens of ideological conflict. If Lula defends a particular international position, some people feel compelled to reject it simply because Lula was the one who defended it

Democracy will not die at the hands of a general, nor will it be buried by a classic coup d'état. There will be no tanks in the streets, no abrupt shutdown of parliaments, no immediate suspension of constitutions. Twenty-first-century democracy dies in a much more subtle, sophisticated, and therefore far more dangerous way: it dies at the hands of its own citizens, who are convinced they are defending it.