The global struggle between authoritarianism and liberal democracy is in full swing these days. It’s been a good week for freedom in Hungary, and a bad week for the U.S.A.
Viktor Orban held power for sixteen years, turning a democratic Hungary into a mafia dictatorship publicly admired by both President Trump and J.D. Vance. His tenure was marked by a rejection of multiculturalism, demonization of immigrants, suppression of dissent, embrace of Christian nationalism, crushing of independent media, erosion of checks and balances, rigging of elections, and an overall matrix of authoritarian power that held the country in a tight, fear-laden grip. But Orban was finally, soundly, astonishingly defeated last month by Hungary’s newly inaugurated Prime Minister Peter Magyar.
Orban was a role model to Trump, and the movement that rose up to defeat him is a role model to those of us who wish to save American democracy.
Orban was a hero to the new authoritarian class, calling his governing philosophy “illiberal democracy.” While the term is not technically an oxymoron, it is one in the sense that the entire point of democracy is to foster and protect the classic liberal values of personal liberty and individual rights. Someone voting for an illiberal democracy is basically repudiating the gifts of democracy, and Hungarians showed up in massive numbers to make it clear they wanted their freedom back.
Surprisingly to some, at least publicly Orban took his defeat calmly. He called Magyar early on election night, acknowledging the results and conceding the election. While he has claimed that for now he plans to remain in Hungary and rebuild his movement, many of his cronies — Hungarian oligarchs who got rich ripping off the Hungarian people for the past sixteen years — not surprisingly made a quick run for the exit, taking whatever assets they could with them. For Magyar has made clear he plans to hold people accountable for the criminal looting of Hungary’s economy as well as the destruction of its democratic institutions. No one should be surprised if a few of them show up in Florida.
As encouraging as the Hungarian election results were to democracy-lovers everywhere, and as inspiring as the movement was that defeated a dictator, let’s not kid ourselves that Donald Trump isn’t analyzing Orban’s loss very carefully to see what he might have gone wrong. Could he have tried to rig it a little more, suppress the vote a little more, frighten people even more? One of Magyar’s frequent messages to people during his campaign was, “Do not be afraid.” Whatever he thinks Orban might have done differently in order to win the election, it’s reasonable to assume Trump will try to do here.
As we all know, scruples are not his thing.
The President’s latest gambit is the announcement of an Election Integrity Army. We can only hope he means poll watchers, volunteers, attorneys and other normal procedural monitors — not ICE agents repurposed for the day. ICE agents supposedly "guarding the polls,” let’s remember, has been Steve Bannon’s promise to us for a while. If anything should be clear to everyone by now, the Trump gang is not all bluster. They’re serious about what they’re doing, and we should be too.
They also have friends in high places. Last week the Supreme Court, in a case called Louisiana v. Callais, chose to fully gut the Voting Rights Act signed into law by Lyndon Johnson in 1965. By tearing down Section 2 of that landmark Civil Rights legislation, SCOTUS basically threw us back to the era of Jim Crow and the systematic suppression of Black political power in America. They eradicated the law prohibiting racial discrimination being used to keep minority populations from full participation in the political process. That includes, of course, electing representatives of their choice. White Supremacist America won big with this decision, achieving one of its primary aims: to muffle the voice of tens of millions of Black Americans. Louisiana v. Callais swung open the doors for anyone and everyone who wants to deny Black Americans, or any minority, political power in America.
The effort to get rid of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was never intended only for museums, universities, and businesses. It was intended for everything, everywhere. And that includes in the halls of government.
As soon as the SCOTUS decision was announced, its celebrants got right to it. In Tennessee, a special legislative session was held eliminating the state’s only majority-black and Democratic Congressional district by splitting it into three districts that include mainly white Republican voters. In Louisiana, the Republican Governor suspended an ongoing election in order to limit Black representation. Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina are similarly following suit. Enough with those uppity non-Whites who have the gall to think they can participate in determining what this country should look like. Enough with all that. Those days are over.
Well, those days are not over; they’re only temporarily put on hold. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “we will be not satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." The Civil Rights movement, and the Voting Rights Act in particular, were themselves acts of rolling justice and mighty righteousness, in a country that had severely limited the rights of Black people for over four centuries. The Voting Rights Act was an effort to make right what had been a terrible, terrible wrong. It was a sword in the hands of the U.S. government for sixty years, giving it the ability to protect the rights of Black people and other minorities in the face of voter discrimination. While that sword has been ripped from the hands of Lady Justice for now, a generation of committed Americans will make sure it is picked back up.
Whether racism, bigotry and authoritarianism wear the face of an Orban in Hungary or a Trump in the United States, they are serious forces never to be underestimated. Nor should we ever consider them completely eradicated. In many ways, that was our mistake. Naivete and complacency among the American electorate is in many ways how we got here, as eternal vigilance gave way to laziness and lack of critical thought. But while it’s nothing new that freedom-loving Americans can be slow to smell the coffee, when we do we are a force to contend with. And we are rising up now. We had fallen down, but we are picking ourselves back up.
Americans have been getting over our shock for the last few months, psychologically and emotionally integrating the fact that institutions we always looked to for protection are in fact not doing so. Many of those institutions have even become the means of transgression against us. It’s depressing, and infuriating, but we get it now. We understand. The only ones who can save us are we ourselves. November 9th is our first chance at liberation day.
It wasn’t easy for the Hungarian people -- it was an extraordinary feat they accomplished - and it isn’t easy for us. But they prevailed. And so will we. We will not surrender to the shameless abuses being perpetrated by the authoritarian forces in our midst, not now, not ever. We have already, and will continue to, suffer temporary defeats. But in the words of Peter Magyar upon his election victory, “….the most ordinary, flesh-and-blood people can defeat the most vicious tyranny.”
Damn right. We absolutely will.
Terrific article. Gratitude for the inspiration.
"Orban was a role model to Trump, and the movement that rose up to defeat him is a role model to those of us who wish to save American democracy..."
I agree Marianne!
I was born in 1965. I knew America’s racism was for real...4-REAL. My grand parents and my parents had first hand accounts. As I grew up and older I e invariably collected my own.
I have felt that ever-present filthy film on the walls of this country my whole life. But I still believed we were moving forward.Slowly. Painfully. But forward.
I even believed we were nearing real restitution for descendants of formerly chattel-enslaved Americans.And I’ll admit it: I took too much for granted.
I thought freedom, voting rights, civil rights, and democracy itself were carved deeper into America’s bones than this. But here we are.
Watching fascism wear a flag pin. Watching cruelty quote “law and order.” Watching a repugnant Supreme Court hand matches to people already standing in gasoline.
Dr. King, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, John Lewis, and our freedom ancestors did not bleed this road open for us to nap at the crossroads.
Hungary’s lesson is clear. Apartheid’s fall taught the same.
Authoritarian systems do not fall because decent people whisper objections.They fall when the People remember who the hell they are.
Across party. Across race. Across class. Across every manufactured divide.
That is the primary thing Americans must do now:
Stop worshiping parties. Stop waiting for saviors. Stop mistaking outrage for organizing.
Build the freedom front.
Because America is not the regime.
America is not the oligarchs.
America is not this court.
America is the People.
And we are not going back.
"Orban was a role model to Trump, and the movement that rose up to defeat him is a role model to those of us who wish to save American democracy..."
What is the first core, collective move Hungary’s People made toward reclaiming their government?