Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Conspiracy theories have always been around, but they haven't historically had as much cultural

cachet as they have now. We ask why tall tales are edging into politics all over the

world and what's to be done about them. And three years ago our Beijing bureau chief returned

to the city after two decades away. It's utterly transformed in all that time, but what struck

him is how much its soundscape has changed. We stop and listen to him ever shifting capital.

First up though.

Brazil had been on edge in the run up to mass rallies on Independence Day yesterday. President

Jair Bolsonaro had called for his supporters to hit the streets and they responded in at

least 19 state capitals. The demonstrations were the largest since Mr. Bolsonaro took office

in 2019. In the largest city, Sao Paulo, the crowd was estimated at 110,000. In the capital

Brazil, the buildings of Congress had to be protected. The protests ended up being peaceful,

despite Mr. Bolsonaro's railing against among other things, the Supreme Court, which

has resisted his attempts to push through new voting laws ahead of next year's elections.

He told a crowd that only God will take me out of Brazil. Plenty of numbers suggest

that divine intervention won't be the deciding factor. COVID numbers, inflation, unemployment,

and well over 100 petitions to impeach him. It's an apparent show of strength by Jair Bolsonaro,

but actually it's basically his weakness. Emma Hogan is our America's editor. He is

tanking in the polls. There are a series of problems for him. He's dealing with some

corruption scandals which he denies. There's the pandemic, which has killed over half a million

people in Brazil and there are economic issues now. So ahead of the elections next year,

...