To Donald Trump, Democracy simply doesn’t work, because too many of “them” can vote. Generally, “them” is mostly people who disagree with him, but it includes Democrats, African Americans, younger Hispanics, LGBTQ+, college educated folks (especially with advanced degrees), scientists/doctors/”elites”, foreigners of non-Christian faith or with darker skin. But Trump is one of a number of “illiberal” autocrats who were elected to the highest leadership positions in their countries. Vladimir Putin, Recep Erdogan, Nicholas Maduro, Victor Orban, etc. – all leaders who, unlike Trump, managed to stay in office a very long time. Their method. Change the rules once elected so you cannot lose in a subsequent election.
Donald Trump was unable to do that during his presidency, and his efforts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election after the fact turned out to be an autocratic “too little, too late.” But with a massive cadre of “populist replacements” being enlisted by the Heritage Foundation (who gave us all of Trump’s rightwing Supreme Court appointees) to take over the “deep state” federal bureaucracy, installing a very toxic, conspiracy theory “alternative” Trumpian deep state, Trump promises if elected (or if anointed) as president, the United States can expect a massive rule change. Trump will assure himself and his nominees of perpetual control at the top.
So how does that happen? Perhaps the best recent example is the MAGA darling and Trump buddy (see above picture), Hungary’s elected autocrat, Victor Orban. Although he lost his first reelection bid, Orban started with an advantage, because Hungary is a very difficult country to live in if you were not born there. With a vague and less than meaningful connection to Finnish, Hungarian is both a difficult language to learn and is not materially based on any other language. Immigrants have never really been welcomed there. So, Hungary is massively defined by its cultural and linguistic and very unique homogeneity. Still, MAGAns love him. Their Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has traveled to Budapest for one recent meeting in 2022, and Orban is always honored at CPAC meetings in this country. He paid an early March visit to Mar-a-Lago as a very personal guest of an admiring Donald Trump.
Orban’s the longest serving leader of any EU nation (and NATO member), is close to Putin and is not a fan of the EU and US support for Ukraine. He started with a standard “elected autocrat” ploy: shutting down or taking over all mainstream media. That approach was not available to Trump during his term, but he consistently called mainstream media – mostly not rightwing conspiracy rags and channels – “truly the enemy of the people,” “The press is doing everything within their power to fight the magnificence of the phrase, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” and labeling accurate but negative reports on his statements as “fake news.” Let’s hope Trump still cannot go as far as did Orban. Oh and Orban over-regulated “disloyal” businesses until they were forced to sell to Orban’s buddies; Trump has openly promised to follow that path if elected again.
Back in April of 2022, the New York Times wrote: “In more than a decade in power, Mr. Orban has not hesitated to use the levers of government power to erode democratic norms and cement one-party rule. He has rewritten the Constitution, remade the courts and used state-run and privately owned television stations — even school textbooks [where have we seen that in the US recently?]— to advance his agenda or push misinformation about his rivals.
“He has unleashed a fresh round of election law changes that benefit his party. He put an inflammatory but ultimately symbolic L.G.B.T. referendum up for a vote, a move that is likely to rally his most strident supporters. And he legalized the registration of voters outside of their home districts — a common practice, until now criminal, that is known as ‘voter tourism.’
“All of that is playing out in a media echo chamber, since Mr. Orban has cemented control of public television to the point where stories, photos and guests are handpicked to align with his talking points. Many of the largest independent news outlets have been taken over by Mr. Orban’s supporters.
“The situation is considered so extraordinary that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an intergovernmental organization, is sending observers to monitor the elections. It is only the second time in the European Union’s history that the group has started a full-scale monitoring operation on an E.U. member.” But Orban has eschewed the brutality of other autocracies; unlike Trump, he has never pledged a government based on retribution. The March 7th The Morning in the NY Times explains:
“Orban does not jail his opponents or have them beaten up the way Vladimir Putin does, but he has relentlessly squeezed the space available for critical voices by getting business cronies to buy up independent media and starving the few others of advertising revenue. Fidesz-controlled outlets treat critics as traitors and deviants. He has also funded a raft of friendly research institutes and a university that help flood the zone with pro-government views.
“When speaking at a 2022 gathering of American conservatives in Budapest, Orban hailed Tucker Carlson as a model of how media should work: ‘There should be shows like his day and night — or, as you say, 24/7.’ In Hungary, that goal has been achieved… Orban’s party, Fidesz, has gerrymandered. It has allowed voters to register in districts where they don’t live. It spies on government critics.
“Fidesz also uses the government to shape and skew public opinion. One example: ‘national consultations,’ pseudo-democratic exercises in which citizens are sent questionnaires with loaded questions. The government recently announced that 99 percent of Hungarians rejected the E.U.’s policy on immigration. The question, however, asked people whether they wanted ‘migrant ghettos’ in Hungary. Most people didn’t return the questionnaire, but Fidesz has trumpeted the result on billboards… The message is that the government represents the will of all but a tiny minority of the people — and which side do you want to be on?”
But with a lot of help from judges he appointed (who seem to toe the MAGA line in way too many cases) and the rightwing appointee screening Heritage Foundation, Trump threatens to remake the United States very much in the fold of Victor Orban’s Hungary… PLUS making room to use the DOJ and the US military to jail his opponents, in his own words.
I’m Peter Dekom, and still the majority of Americans see the 2024 presidential race as a traditional battle of issues… rather than what it really is: a referendum on democracy itself.
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