#democratic backsliding

[salalberryjam]

I’m just going to call maga facist. Sure, technically neo-fascist but I’m feeling generous let’s give them the title they have been doing practically everything to earn. They deserve it.

[onthesideplot]

It's horrible what's going on in Turkey, and I hope Erdogan and the AKP won't be able to just shut the protests down.

But while we're watching from all over the world, don't forget that the imprisonment of politicians and mayors by the AKP on unlawful basis has happend to the kurdish party (DEM) for years. Don't forget that Selahattin Demirtaş has been imprisoned since 2016 even though the european court of human rights has ruled this to be unlawful. Many other kurdish politicians in turkey suffer the same fate. This is not the first time Turkey is doing this. It's merely the first time that they're attacking a mayor with so much international support, and support in the non-kurdish cities. But if your solidartity only exists when a big player is involved, but not when the turkish state is following a racist oppression strategy in handeling its kurdish democratic opposition, you're not really fighting for democracy because democracy starts at even the smallest level.

[queenrizzardnthelizardscissored]

truly admire those who have somehow managed to maintain hope in the future but also what is wrong with you and how do i make the same things be wrong in myself please and thank you

[absurdlakefront]

In a country like the U.S. the death of democracy is going to start off looking kind of normal.  So normal you might not even notice it's happening until it's too late.

Obstruction of justice is obviously a big deal but some of the biggest threats to democracy are way less dramatic, way more normal looking.  If you're waiting for the CNN chiron announcing that “it's time to panic” you're going to be waiting for a long time.

[nuderefsarebest]

We imagine democratic failure will start with a spectacular event: a military coup or the declaration of martial law. But in a country like the U.S., democratic backsliding will likely to start off looking a lot more normal -- with slow, legal attacks on our democratic institutions. It's the kind of thing that won't generate many news headlines -- at least not until it's too late.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Trump Has Taken Only Months to Accomplish the Level of Authoritarian Consolidation That Took Orbán and Modi Years

But America's aversion to tyranny gives it a much better chance of restoring its liberal democracy than their countries

Shikha Dalmia at The UnPopulist:

There are two main counts on which one can assess how much trouble a democracy is in: Where it stands on the democracy-autocracy spectrum, and how quickly it got there. If we compare three backsliding democracies—Hungary, India (my native country), and the United States (my adopted country)—Hungary and India look worse on the first count, but the U.S. looks much worse on the second. In the 2025 Freedom House rankings, Hungary and India are nearly tied at 65 and 63 respectively, rated “partly free”—a dramatic drop from 2009 when both were ranked as free. That India shares Hungary’s score is surprising. India is a mature democracy with 75 years of democratic rule, while Hungary only became democratic after being freed from the Iron Curtain in 1990.

The 2025 Freedom House scores were calculated before Donald Trump returned to office, so the United States still gets 83. We will see how much America’s score drops when the 2026 report is released. But if it dropped 10 points—hardly inconceivable—it would still rank higher than Hungary or India, suggesting that it is in less trouble than these other countries. But speed matters.

The sad and shocking reality is that the authoritarian consolidation that took Viktor Orbán and Narendra Modi eight or so years to accomplish (India’s 2009 Freedom House score was 77, Hungary’s was a whopping 90), Trump has accomplished in eight months. This is a remarkable feat given that America’s 249-year-old institutions, despite erosion and weakening over time, were still the strongest in the world when he took office.

One crude metric of an overweening president is how many executive orders he or she issues. Trump has signed approximately 220 executive orders in his first 10 months, just about 50 less than the number Obama signed over two terms. Biden issued 162 in four years.

The pattern common to all three countries is that authoritarian consolidation accelerated after their aspiring autocrats returned to power with more convincing electoral victories than the first time around.

Orbán’s Fidesz Party won a two-thirds parliamentary majority in 2010 when he returned. Modi gained seats in 2019 and secured control of both houses in his second term. Last year, Trump won the popular vote along with the Electoral College. Critically, he enjoys unified Republican control of government and the Supreme Court. So the stars aligned for a man lacking an inner moral compass to be maximally destructive.

The UnPopulist’s Executive Watch tracker, launched in February to document the misuse and abuse of executive power in Trump’s second term, shows that America’s descent into autocracy hasn’t stabilized after an initial rush—it has accelerated. Orbán paced himself, enacting roughly one radical action per year. Trump is flooding the zone. His operating motto is that what is not stopped is allowed. He deliberately engages in rampant unconstitutional and illegal acts and then dares the other branches of government to act against him. But given that these branches are either in his pocket or too weak, he is getting away with a level of destruction of governing norms and institutions never seen in American history. Make no mistake: we are witnessing is an authoritarian revolution.

This UnPopulist column nails it here. What Donald Trump has done to the US in his 2nd term in months has far outpaced the authoritarian consolidation that Hungary and India went through under Orbán and Modi respectively.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Orbán Was Trump Before Trump

Now they’re both fighting for political survival

Jay Kuo at The Big Picture:

There’s a playbook for what’s happening in America. It’s been running for fifteen years in, of all places, Hungary—a small landlocked country in Central Europe. The architects of MAGA studied the Hungarian model closely, celebrated it openly and told us plainly that they wanted to copy it. The template is Viktor Orbán’s illiberal state: a democracy in form only, where the courts, media, electoral rules and the economy are bent toward one party’s quest for a permanent grip on power. For the American right, Orbán’s Hungary wasn’t just an interesting experiment. The Heritage Foundation declared it a governing template. Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon made the pilgrimage to Budapest. CPAC even held its conference there. The message was unambiguous: Show us how it’s done, so we can import it to the U.S.

But the Hungarian experiment is failing. After sixteen years in power, Orbán has turned his nation into the most corrupt in the European Union, one of its poorest, and, by wide consensus, the least free. His economy has stagnated for three years. Hospitals are crumbling. Young people are leaving. And for the first time in Orbán’s tenure, a credible challenger, Péter Magyar, has pulled ahead in the polls and remains there. The global right has responded by treating the upcoming Hungarian elections on April 12 as a four-alarm emergency. Trump publicly endorsed Orbán and dispatched both his Secretary of State and his Vice President to Budapest. Marine Le Pen flew in from France, Matteo Salvini from Italy, Geert Wilders from the Netherlands. Even Argentina’s Javier Milei traveled from the other side of the world to offer his blessing. Russia sent a team of professional propagandists to work the information space on Orbán’s behalf. The original experiment is in crisis, and by extension, so is the copy. What Hungarian voters do next week, and how the government in power responds, may be the most instructive preview of what America will face in its own fateful midterm elections in November.

Orbán’s Path to Power

To understand what Viktor Orbán built over the sixteen years he has been continuously in power, we have to rewind to 2010. Orbán had already served one term as prime minister, from 1998 to 2002, and then he lost. He spent the following years in opposition, not recalibrating toward the center but hardening toward something else entirely: a theory of permanent power. When he won again in 2010, it was with a solid majority of the electorate. But there was a structural quirk in Hungary’s electoral system: Multiparty elections had not been held in nearly 50 years, and the drafters of the election laws never anticipated a single party winning an outright majority. The rules supercharged Orbán’s victory, handing him 68 percent of the seats despite winning only about 52 percent of the vote. Orbán knew exactly what to do next. After all, upon seizing the Italian parliament a century earlier, Mussolini had immediately rewritten the electoral rules to guarantee his party could never lose power. That handed the Italian fascists two-thirds of the seats, no matter what voters decided.

Orbán didn’t need Blackshirts in the chamber to intimidate legislators like Mussolini did. Instead, he had a legislative supermajority and a team of lawyers. Within a year, Orbán had rewritten Hungary’s electoral laws and redrawn its district maps to lock in structural advantages that would persist regardless of how the public mood shifted. Each time a new challenger has emerged since, Orbán has torn out more pages from the rulebook, warping the system further still. By the time of this year’s election, analysts estimated that the opposition would need to win by a landslide just to achieve a bare parliamentary majority. Meanwhile, Orbán’s Fidesz party could potentially hold a constitutional supermajority on a mere plurality of the vote. The lesson Orbán drew from history, and in turn, the lesson MAGA has drawn from Orbán, is this: Democracy can be hollowed out from within, using the law as the instrument. You don’t need to cancel elections. You just need to make them unwinnable.

Unitary Executive, Orbán Style

The 2010 election supermajority was the key to Orbán expanding his own powers as prime minister. It eliminated the checks and balances that might otherwise have held him accountable and guaranteed the civil rights of political, ethnic, religious and other minorities. Orbán’s authoritarian moves read like a prequel to Trump’s own hurry-up fascist offense. The courts fell first. A key legislative amendment allowed justices of the Constitutional Court to be elected by a two-thirds parliamentary majority alone, replacing the prior cross-party consensus model. Orbán installed loyalist judges and forced out independent jurists. The National Judiciary Office, run by the wife of the Fidesz politician who wrote most of the 2011 Constitution, gained expanding authority over judicial appointments.

The media fell next—and more completely. Beginning in 2014, Orbán’s allies started acquiring the country’s major media companies. In a series of moves that would delight FCC Chairman Brendan Carr today, they transformed news outlets into voices for the regime or closed them down altogether. By 2019, media control resulted in 80 percent of public affairs programming being directly or indirectly financed by sources tied to the ruling Fidesz party. Journalists critical of the government were surveilled with Pegasus, the Israeli spyware favored by authoritarian governments worldwide. The last independent radio station was shut down in 2021.

The universities fell too, though more slowly. Rather than shutter them outright, Orbán privatized them into “foundations,” funneling state and EU funds through boards packed with Fidesz loyalists who dictated what was taught and by whom. (Gov. DeSantis of Florida apparently took careful notes.) Central European University, one of the region’s most respected institutions, was effectively pushed out of Hungary by a targeted law requiring foreign universities to maintain campuses in their home countries—a requirement written to ensnare CEU. It eventually relocated to Vienna. The message to every remaining institution was clear: Independence is contingent on compliance. The regime’s true engine, and what should serve as a warning to democracy advocates here at home, was its systemic, nepotistic corruption. High-profile prosecutions dropped to nearly zero, just as we are seeing in the U.S. The arrangement enriched a loyalist class with every incentive to keep Fidesz in power. What made the Orbán model distinctively dangerous (and distinctively exportable) was that none of this looked like a coup. Democratic backsliding occurred through legal and constitutional means. Orbán himself declared in a famous 2014 speech that he was building an “illiberal state.” He would achieve this not despite elections, but through them.

Between 2010 and 2020, Hungary dropped 69 places in the Press Freedom Index, lost 11 places in the Democracy Index, and deteriorated 16 places in the Corruption Perceptions Index. By 2019, Freedom House downgraded Hungary from “free” to “partly free.” By 2022, the European Parliament declared that Hungary could “no longer be considered a full democracy.”

[...]

The Same Play, American-Style

Republicans in Washington have been watching Orbán and taking notes for years. It isn’t hard to see where they have sought to implement Orbán’s most egregious anti-democratic and illiberal policies. For starters, there’s Orbán’s brutal use of nationally coordinated gerrymandering. At Trump’s behest, Texas gerrymandered its congressional map to benefit Republicans mid-decade. Under similar pressure from the White House, Missouri and North Carolina soon followed, with Missouri’s governor signing a map explicitly designed to dismantle one of two safe Democratic seats, while citing his duty to ensure that “Missouri’s conservative, common-sense values are truly represented.” In South Carolina, party officials fantasized openly about drawing a new map to eliminate the state’s only Black House member. Florida may soon follow with a last-ditch attempt to squeeze a handful more GOP House seats out of its maps.

Voter suppression is also a favored Orbán tool, and the U.S. has got its own homegrown version of it in the SAVE America Act. House Republicans passed that bill, threatening a sweeping overhaul of voter registration rules. Sean Wilentz, Professor of American History at Princeton University, described it as “the most extraordinary attack on voting rights in American history.” Opponents point out it would disenfranchise millions of voters, targeting women in particular. Trump himself made the intent of the bill explicit, declaring it would “guarantee the midterms.” Mike Lee, the senior Republican senator from Utah, was even more candid: “Republicans will lose power—likely for a long time—if we don’t get SAVE America passed.” Senate Democratic Leader Schumer shot back at their efforts. “I don’t remember MAGA Republicans screaming about stolen elections and voter fraud after the 2024 election that they won. Well, the same rules that governed the 2024 election are going to be the ones that govern the 2026 election. The only difference is that this time, MAGA Republicans know they’re in trouble politically. So now they’re suddenly saying the system is compromised and broken and it needs to be changed.”

Hungary will head to the ballot boxes Sunday to determine whether the reign of strongman tyrant Viktor Orbán continues or is sent a “you’re fired” notice.

What has transpired since 2010 in Hungary has taken root in various red states (and increasingly federally) in the US.

See Also:

Daily Kos: Trump isn’t the only failing dictator being praised by Vance

[justinspoliticalcorner]

‘In a real sense, US democracy has died’: how Trump is emulating Hungary’s Orbán

Trump has moved to gut the federal government, fire critics and reward allies – a path similar to ‘would-be dictators’ like Orbán, experts s

David Smith at The Guardian:

A pitiless crackdown on on illegal immigration. A hardline approach to law and order. A purge of “gender ideology” and “wokeness” from the nation’s schools. Erosions of academic freedom, judicial independence and the free press. An alliance with Christian nationalism. An assault on democratic institutions. The “electoral autocracy” that is Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has been long revered by Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” (Maga) movement. Now admiration is turning into emulation. In the early weeks of Trump’s second term as US president, analysts say, there are alarming signs that the Orbánisation of America has begun. With the tech billionaire Elon Musk at his side, Trump has moved with astonishing velocity to fire critics, punish media, reward allies, gut the federal government, exploit presidential immunity and test the limits of his authority. Many of their actions have been unconstitutional and illegal. With Congress impotent, only the federal courts have slowed them down. “They are copying the path taken by other would-be dictators like Viktor Orbán,” said Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut. “You have a move towards state-controlled media. You have a judiciary and law enforcement that seems poised to prioritise the prosecution of political opponents. You have the executive seizure of spending power so the leader and only the leader gets to dictate who gets money.” Orbán, who came to power in 2010, was once described as “Trump before Trump” by the US president’s former adviser Steve Bannon. His long-term dismantling of institutions and control of media in Hungary serves as a cautionary tale about how seemingly incremental changes can pave the way for authoritarianism. Orbán has described his country as “a petri dish for illiberalism”. His party used its two-thirds majority to rewrite the constitution, capture institutions and change electoral law. He reconfigured the judiciary and public universities to ensure long-term party loyalty.

The prime minister created a system of rewards and punishments, giving control of money and media to allies. An estimated 85% of media outlets are controlled by the Hungarian government, allowing Orbán to shape public opinion and marginalise dissent. Orbán has been also masterful at weaponising “family values” and anti-immigration rhetoric to mobilise his base. Orbán’s fans in the US include Vice-President JD Vance, the media personality Tucker Carlson and Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation thinktank, who once said: “Modern Hungary is not just a model for conservative statecraft but the model.” The Heritage Foundation produced Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for Trump’s second term. Orbán has addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference and two months ago travelled to the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for talks with both Trump and Musk. He has claimed that “we have entered the policy writing system of President Donald Trump’s team” and “have deep involvement there”. But even Orbán might be taken aback – and somewhat envious – of the alacrity that Trump has shown since returning to power, attacking the foundations of democracy not with a chisel but a sledgehammer.

[...] Borrowing from Orbán’s playbook, Trump has mobilised the culture wars, issuing a series of executive orders and policy changes that target diversity, equity and inclusion programmes and education curricula. This week he signed an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports and directed the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to lead a taskforce on eradicating what he called anti-Christian bias within the federal government. He is also seeking to marginalise the mainstream media and supplant it with a rightwing ecosystem that includes armies of influencers and podcasters. A “new media” seat has been added to the White House press briefing room while Silicon Valley billionaires were prominent at his inauguration. Musk’s X is a powerful mouthpiece, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook has abandoned factchecking and the Chinese-owned TikTok could become part-owned by the US. Trump has sued news organisations over stories or even interview edits; some have settled the cases. The Pentagon said it would “rotate” four major news outlets from their workspace and replace them with more Trump-friendly media. Jim Acosta, a former White House correspondent who often sparred with Trump, quit CNN while Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, was hired to host a new weekend show on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News. But the most dramatic change has been the way in which Trump has brought disruption to the federal government on an unprecedented scale, firing at least 17 inspectors general, dismantling longstanding programmes, sparking widespread public outcry and challenging the very role of Congress to create the nation’s laws and pay its bills. Government workers are being pushed to resign, entire agencies are being shuttered and federal funding to states and non-profits was temporarily frozen. The most sensitive treasury department information of countless Americans was opened to Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) team in a breach of privacy and protocol, raising concerns about potential misuse of federal funds. Musk’s allies orchestrated a physical takeover of the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), locking out employees and vowing to shut it down, with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, stepping in as acting administrator. “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk posted on X. Musk’s team has also heavily influenced the office of personnel management (OPM), offering federal workers a “buyout” and installing loyalists into key positions. It is also pushing for a 50% budget cut and implementing “zero-based budgeting” at the General Services Administration (GSA), which controls federal properties and massive contracts.

[...] One guardrail is holding for now. Courts have temporarily blocked Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship, cull the government workforce and freeze federal funding. Even so, commentators warn that the blatant disregard for congressional authority, erosion of civil service protections and concentration of power in the executive branch pose a grave threat.

The US is rapidly careening towards Orbánism.