To Understand Trump
Take a Visit to Orban’s Hungary
Democracy isn’t toppled in one moment, it isn’t ended through a military coup or passage of one law giving a president or a chancellor total dictatorial power, instead, democracy gradually disappears as its supporters are ground into the earth figuratively and literally.
The desiccation of democracy happens slowly as new laws are enacted, like restrictive voting laws and gerrymandering, which, when isolated and seen alone, are no great threats. It happens while political loyalists are named as judges, provocateurs surface, corruption increases and imperceptibly but incessantly, the forces combine to create an unbreachable wall against democracy. And suddenly, you awaken to realize that you no longer live in a democracy.
Trump is leading the effort to turn the nation into a faux democracy but he couldn’t do it alone as he has neither the intellect nor the experience but he has something better, something more powerful, the full-throated backing of the majority of the Republican Party that has turned sharply to the far right and that is only concerned with maintaining power as much of the voting public sees their America crumbling and craves a savior. There is a conspiracy afoot but it isn’t the hidden QAnon kind of conspiracy, it is out in the open, right in front of our eyes.
The trumpian vision of the U.S. is as a “Christian democracy” that feigns multiculturalism but wants white, Christian culture to be dominate. Trump’s America rejects immigration and the Make America Great Again mantra is nothing less than a total remodeling of the nation with the Christian family model, that has no room for individual differences such as LGBTQ freedoms. It is a system that functions by systematically undermining confidence in the press, while creating laws that stifle free expression and it has growing appeal to millions of Americans.
To understand trump, meet Viktor Orban, the loving role model for trump and Fox “News” who was once referred to by trump’s alter ego, Steve Bannon, as “trump before trump.” Orban was just 35 when he was first elected in 1998 as prime minister of Hungary. He was reelected in 2013 and has defined his philosophy about government in ways that trend further and further toward totalitarianism. Orban has become a hero to conservatives, including the American right wing, the likes of Tucker Carlson of Fox and doesn’t that sound familiar. Last week Carlson applauded the Hungarian leader during a dinner and visit with Orban.
Trump has maintained his enduring love for Orban and endorsed Orbán in the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election as a leader who “truly loves his Country and wants safety for his people.” Former Vice President Mike Pence visited Hungary last year for a conference on conservative values, the American Conservative Union will hold its international gathering in Budapest in March and the Conservative Political Action Conference, a major forum of the American right, plans to hold its 2022 annual meeting in Hungary.
For his efforts, trump was narrowly defeated for a second term, while millions believe the election was stolen through voter fraud. In communities across the nation and on social media watched by millions, trump has been deified and the Democrats, vilified.
Orbán, despite or because of his totalitarian leanings, received the Freedom Award of the American Enterprise Institute and the New Atlantic Initiative (2001), the Polak Award (2001), the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit (2001), the “Förderpreis Soziale Marktwirtschaft” (Price for the Social Market Economy, 2002) and the Mérite Européen prize (2004). In April 2004, he received the Papal Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.
Trump’s first presidential campaign was anchored in spreading lies and fueling hatred about immigrants and he promised to build a wall to be paid for by Mexico. The strategy had appeal to a huge swath of frightened and angry Americans. The wall was partly built with no support from Mexico.
Before trump, Orban built his own wall in 2015 in the form of a sprawling barbed wire fence that spread along the border with Serbia, to protect Hungary from the hordes of primarily Muslim migrants who seek to leave their troubled homelands and invade Hungary. Before trump, Orban sent a bill to the European Union to pay for the wall because Hungary was protecting the citizens of Europe from the illegal migrants. The EU did not comply. Can anyone spell Mexico?
Orban continues to demonize Muslims and other refugees as a threat to the Hungarian way of life. Trump relied on the unending propaganda that he was the one who would save Americans from the flood of “rapists and killers” from Central America coming to the U.S.
In trump’s America, the right wing very much controls the information flow with its symbiotic relationship with Fox News, with personalities like Carlson, the most watched commentator in the nation. Orban and his political party, Fidesz, have been doing the same thing for many years, with the end result de facto rigged elections because of the widespread cancer of misinformation pushed by government-controlled media companies. In Hungary, 90 percent of the media are owned by the state or by allies of Orban and his party, and the U.S. is moving in the same direction with the explosion of far right media outlets.
Trump and supporters have continued to trumpet the big lie that he was a victim of widespread voter fraud that brought Joe Biden to power. Orban was first elected prime minister in 1998 but his party lost the 2002 elections and a new prime minister was named. Immediately after the results were reported, Orban’s party claimed widespread election fraud and a friendly media was quick to enter the feeding frenzy in support of Orban’s claims.
Reports continue to surface about the drastic measures that trump considered to remain in office after his defeat. Those measures, which were popular with a significant number of trump’s allies, included possibly seizing voting machines and calling in the military. Again the parallels with Orban are striking as in 2020, the Hungarian parliament voted to create a state of emergency in which the prime minister would rule by decree, suspend elections and potentially imprison anyone spreading “face news.” Two months later, the parliament ended the state of emergency but enacted a new law to allow the government to impose states of emergencies for “medical” reasons.
Trump and Orban also share similar beliefs in the area of foreign policy. Trump was extremely uncritical of Russia while Orban has supported Russia’s latest military build-up on the Ukraine border and met recently with Vladimir Putin in Moscow in a visit which Orban called “a peacekeeping mission.” Like trump, Orban has a close relationship with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Orbin also has cited Russia, China, India, Turkey and Singapore as models for his country. Orban, like trump, also has praised Brazil’s strong arm president Jair Bolsonaro and that nation’s model of Christian democracy.
Trump has promoted the so-called Great Replacement conspiracy that white Americans should take actions because they will soon be outnumbered by African Americans and other minorities. Orban too has cited the Great Replacement conspiracy that alerts his people of an invasion of tens of millions of migrants from Africa and the Middle East.
The conspiracy is out there for all who have eyes to see.