Viktor Orban, the authoritarian Trump and MAGAs see as a heroic visionary goes down to a landslide loss -- but the "Orbanisation of America" continues apace"

Hungarians celebrate the end of the Orban era (Reuters)

In a result that many political observers see as a win for Western democracy and a loss for authoritarianism, Hungary''s incumbent prime minister Viktor Orban conceded defeat yesterday to upstart Peter Magyar. Ironically, the outcome also was seen as a defeat for both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. From a jointly published report at the DPA press agency of Germany and Yahoo! News, under the headline "Orban concedes defeat as Hungary's opposition set for landslide win": 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has conceded defeat in parliamentary elections to opposition leader Péter Magyar, bringing an end to his 16 years in power.

"Whatever happens, we will serve the homeland even in opposition," the right-wing populist told supporters in Budapest on Sunday night.

"The task is clear: now that the burden of government work is no longer on our shoulders, we must strengthen our own community."

Magyar’s centre-right Tisza Party was set for a landslide win over Orbán’s Fidesz, an official tally showed.

With around 67% of polling stations counted, Orbán’s Fidesz party had secured 38.08% of the vote, according to the election commission, while his challenger Magyar’s centre-right Tisza led with 53.27%.

Election analysts said Tisza was ahead in enough constituencies to secure a comfortable parliamentary majority.

"Thank you, Hungary!" Magyar posted on X, adding that he already had spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron by phone. 

Orban has instituted policies in Hungary that closely mirror what Trump has done in the United States. In fact, Trump has cited Hungary as a model for the U.S., as the European Council on Foreign Relations states in an article titled "The Orbanisation of America: Hungary's lessons for Donald Trump." From the DPA/Yahoo! News article:

The election, seen as Hungary’s most significant since the democratic transition of 1989–90, drew record turnout, with 77.8% of eligible voters casting ballots shortly before polls closed.

During his time in office, 62-year-old Orbán has been accused of building a semi-authoritarian system, curbing media and judicial independence, cracking down on LGBTQ rights, steering the country into conflict with the European Union and aligning it more closely with Russia. He was a celebrity in the eyes of many conservatives in US President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

Within the EU, he repeatedly used vetoes to block key aid for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, contributing to tensions with Brussels, which froze billions of euros in funds over rule-of-law concerns.

Attacking media and judicial independence. Cracking down on minority rights.Promoting conflict with European allies. Aligning with Russia. Trampling the rule of law. That sounds familiar because it's straight from Trump's playbook, which he largely borrowed from Orban. Here is more from DPA/Yahoo! News:

Magyar, a 45-year-old former Fidesz insider who broke with Orbán two years ago, built a broad-based political movement in a short period, positioning himself as an agent of change. He pitched his message relentlessly across the country, reaching beyond his base in major cities to smaller towns and villages.

He campaigned on tackling corruption and mismanagement and pledged to repair Hungary’s relations with the EU and its Western allies.

I encourage our Legal Schnauzer readers to let that last paragraph sink in, Magyar promised to tackle corruption and mismanagement and pledged to repair Hungary's relations with the EU and its Western allies. Hungarian voters, weary of Orban's authoritarian impulses, rewarded Magyar with a resounding victory. He ran exactly the kind of campaign we need from Democrats in the U.S. -- and we desperately need to rid ourselves of a budding despot. But here's the thing: We cannot afford to wait until 2028 to get rid of Trump. To rebuild from the damage he has wrought already will be a long, hard road, so we cannot let Trump and his band of dysfunctional incompetents make it worse. As I've already noted in a previous plost, Trump, his acolytes, and their GOP enablers must be ejected now -- through impeachment, the 25th Amendment, or some type of military intervention. Heck, I'm open to a creative ejection technique that's never been used before -- as long as it's effective and begins our nation's healing process.

A good first step toward getting our country back on the right track would be for all Americans to read "The Orbanisation of America" article noted above. Here is the summary that begins the piece, which is written by Jeremy Shapiro and Zsuzsanna Vegh. I will highlight the sentences that sound the most  Trumpian, reflecting where he has gone and where he wants to go:

Summary

• Viktor Orban has seized control of nearly all the levers of power in Hungary since he became prime minister in 2010, effectively turning the country into an electoral autocracy.
• Republicans in the US have noticed Orban’s success. Orban’s Fidesz party and the Republicans have lately strengthened their links significantly; Republicans appear to have learned from the former’s march through Hungarian institutions.
• In the four years since President Donald Trump left office (in 2000, returning in 2024), veterans of his administration have thought hard about how to make a new administration more effective than the last. Many believe that a similar seizure of control of the instruments of US governance is necessary.

If Trump wins the presidency, Republicans will likely adapt many of Orban’s techniques to the US context to end what they view as liberal control of the “administrative state” and civil society.

This new form of US governance could have profound implications not only for European foreign policy, including the robustness of NATO’s collective defence, but also EU and domestic European democracy as a Trump White House seeks to lead and champion like-minded allies across the world.

The full article is well worth your time. We highly recommend it. We will have more in upcoming posts about the "Orbanisation of America." This clearly is where Trump wants to take us, and we must refuse to go. Hungarians have ousted Orban; now we must oust Trump, holding him and his enablers accountable for the damage they have done, starting with their destruction of the White House's East Wing. We hope you will stay tuned because this is one of the most important stories of Trump's horrific second term. We now know the roadmap he is using, and it deserves to be crumpled up and tossed in the trash.