Viktor Orbán has been one of Donald Trump and the right’s role models for the destruction of democracy.
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As The Daily’s Sarah Jones wrote:
Republicans have been taking basic how-to autocratization classes from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Hungary evinces the soft fascism that is the end goal of all Republican actions. Globally, conservatives’ goal is to defeat international liberalism, which results in the tightening pressure we see against western democracy.
One of the Orbán-style attacks on democracy is to use the law to grab power. If what they want is illegal, change the law to make it legal. They are to make changes to the law to enable them to invoke their goal, and then to argue first principles in defense, which is particularly and specifically ironic given that they are actually taking power away from the people while citing popular sovereignty as justification — the idea that the government’s power comes from the people being governed. When called out for abuse of power, they claim “this is my democratic mandate.”
Orbán visited the White House, was a featured speaker at CPAC, and was held up by MAGA as an example of what they wanted the United States to become.
Orbán eroded democracy in Hungary and concentrated power, all the while being one of Putin’s closest allies, and a constant problem for the EU.
Orbán’s defeat is a critical turning point in the global battle for democracy.
