it's my body, my choice, til the bitter end. nothing can ever make it okay to take away my basic rights. i do not deserve to be marginalized. no one does.
Firings at the Justice Department and FBI herald revenge—and a broad shift from white-collar and national-security cases to illegal immigrat
In a speech given after winning his fourth term as prime minister of Hungary, Victor Orban would tell a crowd, “We must state that we do not want to be diverse and do not want to be mixed: we do not want our own colour, traditions and national culture to be mixed with those of others. We do not want this. We do not want that at all. We do not want to be a diverse country."
Orban reassumed power in 2010 after having lost his bid for reelection in 2002. To date Orban has held the prime minister position fourteen consecutive years, eighteen total. Over this time he has consolidated power to himself, with much suspicion regarding the legitimacy of the Hungarian election system, the European Union going so far as to say Hungary could no longer be considered a full democracy.
After losing his run in 2002 Orban and other conservatives in the Fidesz party would baselessly claim the election was rigged, despite lacking any evidence of it’s existence.
The period from 2002-2010 gave Orban time to formulate a plan if he were to return to power. The 2010 results would allow him the chance to implement them.
His rise to the top was fueled with anti-immigrant sentiment, capped with the tone of unbridled nationalism. Hungary would embrace a Eurosceptic style of government, which Orban would call “illiberal Christian Democracy”.
His claim of democracy is disputed though. Upon recapturing prime minister Orban would put into play a series of measures to covertly undermine the pillars of a democratic state.
In 2013 Orban would amend the constitution giving unchecked power to the head of state to the point where he can dissolve parliament. The changes to the constitution also allowed for an extended state of emergency [crisis] to be declared, pausing elections if needed.
By removing investigators and heads of law enforcement, replacing them with loyalists, his corruption would go unchecked. Today Hungary is considered a kleptocracy or mofia state, with Transparency International declaring it the most corrupt country in the EU.
Over the years, with the help of extreme gerrymandering, Orban has all but tightened his grip over government, with 2/3rds of parliament under his right wing Fidesz party. This would allow for the passing of judiciary reform putting the executive branch in charge of appointing, installing, and funding justices of his choosing.
With judiciary and parliament stacked in his favor there would be no opposition. This gave way to the passing of legislation to create a state of emergency unconditionally. In this it provided Orban the right, by decree, to prosecute and jail people spreading “fake news, including the press.
Through litigation, intimidation, buyouts and pressure campaigns nearly 80% of news media is either controlled by the state, or simply right wing propaganda broadcasting conservative Fidesz talking points.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Peter Magyar, leader of a new opposition party in Hungary would say when speaking of available news content and current events “This parallel reality is like the Truman Show. People believe that it’s reality.”
Peter Kreko, an analyst for Budapest think tank would echo these themes saying, “Orbán has created ‘an almost Orwellian environment’ where the government weaponizes control of a majority of news outlets to limit Hungarians’ decisions.” He would go on to say, “Hungary has become a quite successful informational autocracy, or spin dictatorship,”
Right wing personalities, and autocratic leaders use the victim card as a way to distract and manipulate their followers. They find reasons, and make up stories about how oppressed they are, how the opposition is stifling their speech, or not allowing their religion, or that some group of people are threatening their rights and way of life. This leads to villainizing minority sects of the population.
Orban ran on an anti-immigrant hate platform, trashing the EU for their position on immigration. This came as Hungary’s affiliation with Russia was growing ever closer. Putin and Orban’s relationship goes back to around the 2010’s. Much of the controversial legislation Orban passed reflects legislation pushed through in Putin’s Russia. Orban and Putin meet regularly, in fact prior to the U.S. presidential election they met right before Orban would visit Trump at Mar -a-largo.
Despite the majority of the population being agnostic, Orban would claim Hungary was a “Christian Democracy.” He would vehemently pursue the cause to “re-Christianize” Hungary. This would lead to the privatization of public schools, urging that youth education be done by the churches. These school curriculums would teach, "national identity, Christian cultural values, patriotism, attachment to homeland and family”, not providing room for other religious beliefs, or accurate depictions of the past.
Much like what the Christian right does in America this would lead to a string of anti-LGBTQ discrimination and persecution, with Orban saying that homosexuality is “Not compatible with Christian values”. In 2020 Orban had government end the legal recognition of transgender people. He would also put up legislation to censor any “LGBTQ positive content” from movies, books, TV, and other media.
Orbán passed laws, amended the constitution and "patiently debilitated, delegitimatized, hollowed out" civic institutions such as courts, universities, and the apparatus necessary for free elections that are now controlled by Orbán loyalists. Domination of the public media by Orbán prevents the public from hearing critics' point of view.
If any of this sounds familiar it should. Orban is hailed as a hero in American conservatism. He has spoken many times at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the pinnacle of conservative gatherings in the U.S., Steve Bannon. Would call Orban, “Trump, before Trump”, Tucker Carlson, and other right wing media personalities would interview Orban, with Tucker exclaiming that he was the only Eastern European leader "on the face of the earth, ... who publicly identifies as a Western-style conservative".
All of Trump 2.0 is following the path in which Orban destroyed the democratic system in Hungary. It’s uncanny. I urge Americans and American leaders to look into Orban’s takeover of Hungary and the precise similarities in Trumps approach currently. This is the white Christian nationalist agenda in action. It happened in Europe on a smaller scale, it’s on the macro level in the United States now.
"China is such a dystopian nightmare. I can't imagine living in a place where I'm under surveillance 24/7 and the state has the possibility to control every aspect of my life by limiting or completely eliminating my basic rights if I don't do what they want. Anyway, wanna go grab a pastry from a café that only accepts digital payments and then watch a movie on Netflix on my smart TV? I also want to show you my new robot vacuum that responds to voice commands and my smart fridge that can be locked and opened with a fingerprint lock, it's all so convenient! By the way, did you hear that Western country x and y require you to verify your age through government ID or facial recognition to access certain social media platforms now? We need to do that too, social media is so harmful for kids."
