A superb analysis! Orban allowed elections. perhaps out of smugness; perhaps out of an odd reverence for process. Trump may yet try to postpone or cancel the November elections or station his paid-off thugs at select polling places. If he does, things will get very ugly, very fast. The Far Right is not the only element in the United States that possesses firearms and the willingness to use them.
An excellent point of comparison, and your take on the speed & exhaustion is well taken. But this is what I want to hang on to, and I thank you for it: “One thing is clear to me, though: if Hungary can achieve regime change after sixteen years, then no captured democracy is too far gone to fight back.”
Excellent analysis - the only thing that would improve on it is taking into consideration pre-1989 authoritarian Hungary. There are plenty of us who have now watched Hungary go through two regime changes. Hungarians who were young adults at the time Fidesz fought authoritarianism, are an invaluable resource. The US has no authoritarian past currently living Americans are familiar with, and it shows.
Brilliant article. Bravo indeed! I fully admit when I heard Trump say “I will be your retribution” I thought he was referring to his list of enemies. The ones like Jim Comey or Leticia James whom he keeps trying to indict on nonsense. Massie for crossing him. What Trump really meant is we are ALL his enemies. Every single American will pay in one way or another. Every executive order, every move by DOGE last year destroying the civil service and every single Federal department by firing hundreds of experts, the gutting of the social safety net and threats of taking away SNAP permanently, the Big Beautiful Bill…every single thing Trump has done is his revenge on all of us. Regulations that protected our water, air, national parks, healthcare, flying are all GONE. And the color of your skin can get you sent to a detention center and even being a witness to ICE will get you killed, like Alex Pretti and Renee Good and so many more. Forever chemicals are allowed now in our water, pesticides on our food, little oversight in the safety of our food, allowing western lands to be drilled, logged, and destroyed.
I think yesterday was a severe shock to Americans’ system with the $1.8 billion dollar “fund” to reimburse people who were unfairly targeted by “Biden’s weaponization of the Justice Department.” The irony is not lost on me. The men and women who destroyed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 have already been pardoned and now who knows how much money they will each get. He’s rewarding his loyalists, to ensure they will still do anything for him. WE WHO ARE AGAINST HIM ARE HIS ENEMIES. He called anyone who identifies with antifa a terrorist. My grandfathers in WWII were antifa. My great uncles too and my grandmothers working in defense companies. I am antifa. I don’t happen to like Fascism or tyranny Or a man who thinks he is Jesus, a king and the Pope. He has frontal temporal lobe dementia, and likely heart failure and/or kidney disease. He can barely stand or walk much anymore. He sits at his desk, covering his black and blue hands. He sleeps through entire meetings or events. He’s a madman posting insane memes on his Truth Social app. He is a malignant narcissist and psychopath. And a PFDfile. That why Massie lost. He pushed too hard for the release of the Epstein files.
You are spot on with the speed and exhaustion with which he has destroyed the Constitution, with universities and law firms caving to him, with all his executive orders, and shockingly with Congress rolling over and abandoning their duties. No one wants to end up a Thomas Massie. These people value their jobs over the American people. For Trump, laws and rules are for suckers. Steve Bannon, one of Trump’s slobbish lackeys said “flood the zone” with any information they have. Last night I felt so utterly defeated - Trump telling the IRS they can never look at his taxes again, he will never pay taxes again, nor will his family, he can never be audited and no one will ever look at his financials again. He is acting like he is a king. He is a that dictator and when he said he’d be dictator for day one, I took him very seriously and I thought oh this is going to be really bad. Really, really bad. Last night, I wanted to give up.
Today I will not. That’s what they want. I will spend the last third of my life - whatever time I have, doing what I can to be on the right side of history.
hope I am wrong, but I don’t think we can vote our way out of this. I don’t think these people are ever leaving. We might have midterm elections but I fear they will sow such chaos, invalidate Dems wins, or won’t swear them in to Congress.. or they will, create a gale flag event, and Trump will declare an emergency and cancel the midterms. Timothy Snyder, the expert on tyranny snd Fascism who fled to Canada in 2024 with his family, gave us a list of five things authoritarians do to stop elections. We shall see if there are free and fair midterms. I will keep resisting no matter what. I’m 59 years old. I don’t have any f***s left to give.
Trump is physically and cognitively on his way out (everyone seems to have a bottle of Champagne ready - I know I do) and no matter what happens after his demise we will deal with those people too. The canceling of midterms might seal us in permanently with other evil people, but I must tell you, the world has never seemed so excited at the prospect of the disappearance of one man. He might think of all of us as his targets for revenge…but I say, don’t live your life in such a way as the world will likely rejoice for days when you leave this mortal coil.
Thank you for your warning, Péter. I haven't been able to make it outside my borders yet, but I still carry Faith that one day I will. More money has been taken from me so as to keep me contained, but I still have my voice until they remove it from this Life. I appreciate your words more than you know.
In a sense, yes, the goal is exhaustion, but the difference in speed and scale between Orbán and Trump reflects a weaker and not a stronger position. With opposition votes concentrated in Budapest, Orbán had a margin one could gamble with. Trump, or at least those tasked with the Orbánization of our government, knew that their margin of victory would evaporate on a very clear timeline: two years. Historically, the chances of a clean win in this year's elections were always slim, slimmer with the more radically the Admin. acts, since turnout for the opposing party is usually higher in this mid-term election. So the reason for the speed is that they have effectively until the end of this year to hollow democracy out. If they can't at least rig the elections, it gets a lot harder on January 1. And since actual elections are subject to diffuse and mostly local control, that's a tall order. The reason they are doing everything all at once might be to project inevitability and sow chaos, while also making it harder for their opponents to win.
Trying to catch my breath after reading this first hand account of a democratic downfall. I wish EVERY American of voting age could read it. Hats off to Peter!
As usual good writing and good advice. Trump is chaos, but we are fighting him and his backers. We are ousting the old time cowardly corporate Democrats. We will hold everyone guilty accountable. You see things very clearly & I look forward to your Reports. May Hungary & the whole world become a better place to live.
Thank you for writing such insightful analysis. Chilled to my core. It reads a incredibly accurate.
A superb analysis! Orban allowed elections. perhaps out of smugness; perhaps out of an odd reverence for process. Trump may yet try to postpone or cancel the November elections or station his paid-off thugs at select polling places. If he does, things will get very ugly, very fast. The Far Right is not the only element in the United States that possesses firearms and the willingness to use them.
Yes we also have firearms & are vets. Best of all we are the good people who will not cave to bullying, from insane haters & opurtunists.
All true here!
Good, valud description and differentiation. Always enjoy your writing. Thanks Péter. Keep going Hungary!
* valid
An excellent point of comparison, and your take on the speed & exhaustion is well taken. But this is what I want to hang on to, and I thank you for it: “One thing is clear to me, though: if Hungary can achieve regime change after sixteen years, then no captured democracy is too far gone to fight back.”
Bravo !
Excellent analysis - the only thing that would improve on it is taking into consideration pre-1989 authoritarian Hungary. There are plenty of us who have now watched Hungary go through two regime changes. Hungarians who were young adults at the time Fidesz fought authoritarianism, are an invaluable resource. The US has no authoritarian past currently living Americans are familiar with, and it shows.
Brilliant article. Bravo indeed! I fully admit when I heard Trump say “I will be your retribution” I thought he was referring to his list of enemies. The ones like Jim Comey or Leticia James whom he keeps trying to indict on nonsense. Massie for crossing him. What Trump really meant is we are ALL his enemies. Every single American will pay in one way or another. Every executive order, every move by DOGE last year destroying the civil service and every single Federal department by firing hundreds of experts, the gutting of the social safety net and threats of taking away SNAP permanently, the Big Beautiful Bill…every single thing Trump has done is his revenge on all of us. Regulations that protected our water, air, national parks, healthcare, flying are all GONE. And the color of your skin can get you sent to a detention center and even being a witness to ICE will get you killed, like Alex Pretti and Renee Good and so many more. Forever chemicals are allowed now in our water, pesticides on our food, little oversight in the safety of our food, allowing western lands to be drilled, logged, and destroyed.
I think yesterday was a severe shock to Americans’ system with the $1.8 billion dollar “fund” to reimburse people who were unfairly targeted by “Biden’s weaponization of the Justice Department.” The irony is not lost on me. The men and women who destroyed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 have already been pardoned and now who knows how much money they will each get. He’s rewarding his loyalists, to ensure they will still do anything for him. WE WHO ARE AGAINST HIM ARE HIS ENEMIES. He called anyone who identifies with antifa a terrorist. My grandfathers in WWII were antifa. My great uncles too and my grandmothers working in defense companies. I am antifa. I don’t happen to like Fascism or tyranny Or a man who thinks he is Jesus, a king and the Pope. He has frontal temporal lobe dementia, and likely heart failure and/or kidney disease. He can barely stand or walk much anymore. He sits at his desk, covering his black and blue hands. He sleeps through entire meetings or events. He’s a madman posting insane memes on his Truth Social app. He is a malignant narcissist and psychopath. And a PFDfile. That why Massie lost. He pushed too hard for the release of the Epstein files.
You are spot on with the speed and exhaustion with which he has destroyed the Constitution, with universities and law firms caving to him, with all his executive orders, and shockingly with Congress rolling over and abandoning their duties. No one wants to end up a Thomas Massie. These people value their jobs over the American people. For Trump, laws and rules are for suckers. Steve Bannon, one of Trump’s slobbish lackeys said “flood the zone” with any information they have. Last night I felt so utterly defeated - Trump telling the IRS they can never look at his taxes again, he will never pay taxes again, nor will his family, he can never be audited and no one will ever look at his financials again. He is acting like he is a king. He is a that dictator and when he said he’d be dictator for day one, I took him very seriously and I thought oh this is going to be really bad. Really, really bad. Last night, I wanted to give up.
Today I will not. That’s what they want. I will spend the last third of my life - whatever time I have, doing what I can to be on the right side of history.
hope I am wrong, but I don’t think we can vote our way out of this. I don’t think these people are ever leaving. We might have midterm elections but I fear they will sow such chaos, invalidate Dems wins, or won’t swear them in to Congress.. or they will, create a gale flag event, and Trump will declare an emergency and cancel the midterms. Timothy Snyder, the expert on tyranny snd Fascism who fled to Canada in 2024 with his family, gave us a list of five things authoritarians do to stop elections. We shall see if there are free and fair midterms. I will keep resisting no matter what. I’m 59 years old. I don’t have any f***s left to give.
Trump is physically and cognitively on his way out (everyone seems to have a bottle of Champagne ready - I know I do) and no matter what happens after his demise we will deal with those people too. The canceling of midterms might seal us in permanently with other evil people, but I must tell you, the world has never seemed so excited at the prospect of the disappearance of one man. He might think of all of us as his targets for revenge…but I say, don’t live your life in such a way as the world will likely rejoice for days when you leave this mortal coil.
Very well put. I agree.
❤️
Thank you for your warning, Péter. I haven't been able to make it outside my borders yet, but I still carry Faith that one day I will. More money has been taken from me so as to keep me contained, but I still have my voice until they remove it from this Life. I appreciate your words more than you know.
Thank you so much, Mildred! I really appreciate your support.
You're welcome, Petér.
In a sense, yes, the goal is exhaustion, but the difference in speed and scale between Orbán and Trump reflects a weaker and not a stronger position. With opposition votes concentrated in Budapest, Orbán had a margin one could gamble with. Trump, or at least those tasked with the Orbánization of our government, knew that their margin of victory would evaporate on a very clear timeline: two years. Historically, the chances of a clean win in this year's elections were always slim, slimmer with the more radically the Admin. acts, since turnout for the opposing party is usually higher in this mid-term election. So the reason for the speed is that they have effectively until the end of this year to hollow democracy out. If they can't at least rig the elections, it gets a lot harder on January 1. And since actual elections are subject to diffuse and mostly local control, that's a tall order. The reason they are doing everything all at once might be to project inevitability and sow chaos, while also making it harder for their opponents to win.
Trying to catch my breath after reading this first hand account of a democratic downfall. I wish EVERY American of voting age could read it. Hats off to Peter!
As usual good writing and good advice. Trump is chaos, but we are fighting him and his backers. We are ousting the old time cowardly corporate Democrats. We will hold everyone guilty accountable. You see things very clearly & I look forward to your Reports. May Hungary & the whole world become a better place to live.