Viktor Orbán was 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 received basic lessons on autocratization from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Hungary bears witness to the soft fascism which is the ultimate goal of all republican actions. Globally, the goal of conservatives is to defeat international liberalism, which translates into increasing pressure against Western democracy.
One of the Orbán-style attacks on democracy is to use the law to seize power. If what they want is illegal, change the law to make it legal. They must make changes to the law to allow them to invoke their purpose and then assert the first principles defense, which is particularly ironic given that they are in effect taking power away from the people while invoking popular sovereignty as their justification – the idea that the power of government comes from the people being governed. When they are arrested for abuse of power, they assert that “this is my democratic mandate”.
Orbán visited the White House, was a guest speaker at CPAC, and was cited by MAGA as an example of what they wanted the United States to become.
Orbán has eroded democracy in Hungary and concentrated power, while being one of Putin’s closest allies and a constant problem for the EU.
Orbán’s defeat represents a crucial turning point in the global battle for democracy.