It is no secret that Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, is the darling of many on the far right and Donald Trump himself. In fact, the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) has been held in Hungary the last several years. Orban assumed his current position in 2010 after his Fidesz Party won a majority of seats in Parliament. This is his second term as Prime Minister. He first served from 1998 to 2002 but was ousted when his party lost power. When he was first elected at the beginning of his second term, Hungary was pretty much what one would call a democracy. Since that time, Orban has systematically changed the government into its current incarnation which is known as an ‘illiberal democracy.’ If you want to know what is currently happening in this country and where we are headed on the Trump train, it is important to understand just exactly what an illiberal democracy is and how people like Orban (and Trump) go about morphing a once thriving democracy into this new beast called, somewhat ironically, an illiberal democracy, which in my opinion, is simply a more palatable word for authoritarian government.
Although scholars may differ on an exact definition of a ‘liberal democracy,’ most democracies share certain attributes1. These are:
Universal Suffrage: All citizens have the ability to vote in elections.
Free, fair, and frequent elections: The voting process is transparent, free from coercion and easily accessible to all citizens.
Freedom of speech and assembly: Political opinions can be protested and expressed freely without repression.
Elected Representatives: Voters need to have a choice. If there is only one party, voting becomes an exercise in futility.
Freedom of Media and Information: The voters need to have access to unbiased and uncensored information.
Once a leader is elected and they wish to move a country from a true democracy to an ‘illiberal democracy’ (read ‘authoritarian government’) there are a number of things they can do.
Polarization: This is the old divide and conquer strategy. Start pitting one group against another.
Attacking Independent Media: There is nothing an authoritarian hates more than media that is critical, particularly if what they are reporting is the truth.
Taking Control of the Judiciary: Once an authoritarian leader installs biased judges, it is much more difficult to hold them to account and much easier for them to just ignore the law.
Repression of Political Opposition: An aspiring authoritarian leader will use their power to suppress dissent and protests and, in some cases, actually jail political opponents.
Scapegoating Civil Society: They will try to control civil society by stripping away rights, limiting freedom and instituting widespread surveillance.
The MAGA wing of the country, led by Trump, want to follow the pattern established by Viktor Orban and turn the once thriving, albeit imperfect democracy in the United States into an ‘illiberal democracy’ such as that in Hungary. Trump will deny that is the goal, but he also distanced himself from Project 2025 but now that he is in office, he is using it as a blueprint for his administration. He lied – what a surprise.
If you want to know where we are headed just look at what steps an authoritarian takes outlined above and you can see we are well down the path. Polarization – check; Attacking Media – check; Control the Judiciary – check; Repression of Political Opponents – partial check and getting worse; Control Society – partial check and getting worse. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where the Trump train is headed.
And if you think life in the United States will get better if the Trump train arrives at its destination of ‘illiberal democracy,’ just remember that according to the current ‘Happiness Index’ the United States ranks number 23, Hungary ranks 56 and Russia ranks 72. Frankly, I think a lot of people who were eager to jump aboard the Trump train, are going to be sorely disappointed when it gets where it’s going. It’s not going to look at all like the brochure promised!
