Donald Trump and the Orbánization of America

Of course, I am referring to President Trump’s admiration for and embrace of Hungarian autocrat and outspoken champion of illiberal governance, Viktor Orbán.

Like President Trump, he was, and continues to be, the duly elected President of his country. He calls Hungary an illiberal democracy and is a proud proponent of the illiberal regimen over which he reigns. By his words and deeds, President Trump is also a proponent of illiberal government and a strong advocate of an illiberal America. So, what does that mean?

To put it, perhaps too simply, proponents of illiberal democracy embrace the notion that once elected through a democratic process, an illiberal leader is pretty free to do what he or she chooses. Of course, that may require jettisoning what we Americans think of as constitutional guardrails.

Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán has declared, “We (Hungary) have to abandon liberal methods and principals of organizing a society, as well as the liberal way to look at the world.” He further clarified Hungary’s position. “Checks and balances are a U.S. invention that for some reason of intellectual mediocrity Europe decided to adopt and use in European politics.” Of course, there is nothing intellectually mediocre about America’s system of checks and balances.

It is sad that America is experiencing this Trumpian malaise over the checks and balances and separation of powers the founders imposed on him. Orbán and his Fidesz party’s model must seem so much more efficient than the governing model adopted by the founders, which was first advocated in the eighteenth century by the French judge Baron de Montesquieu.

Orbán’s indictment of the checks and balances that are so basic to American democracy speaks volumes about his contempt for American values and other Western norms. Now comes President Donald J. Trump, who has pronounced, “When somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that’s the way it's gotta be…the federal government has absolute power. Whether or not I’ll use that power…we’ll see.” So much for American constitutional checks and balances.

Well, we’re beginning “to see.” As soon as the Associated Press referred to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico, a petulant Trump who had, days earlier, declared that he had renamed the Gulf, the Gulf of America, denied the wire service access to his news conferences and other events routinely covered by the press. He seemed to be telling AP that you’ll do things my way or not at all. Whether Trump will break off diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, which still recognizes the Gulf as the Gulf of Mexico, remains to be seen.

Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump are the odd couple of Western governance. Interestingly, Orbán was the first among Western leaders to endorse Trump when he (Trump) first declared his intention to seek the presidency of the United States. Trump was quick to return the favor. “Viktor Orbán of Hungary truly loves his Country and wants safety for his people,” Trump wrote in an endorsement of Orbán’s bid to be reelected in Hungary’s most recent race for Prime Minister. “He is a strong leader and respected by all.”

Donald Trump, of course, has an affinity for political strongmen. He has praised Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s Xi Jinping, Poland’s Andrzej Duda, and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. Assuming the company one keeps (or prefers) says a lot about a person, we have reason to be concerned…very concerned.

David Cornstein, who was Trump’s Ambassador to Hungary, says President Trump believes he and Orbán are cut from the same cloth. Trump would, no doubt, like to remake the Republican Party to be more in line with Orbán’s Fidesz Party in Hungary.

Brian Klass, an Associate Professor of Global Economics at the University College London, says, “Trump correctly believes that Orbán is fighting the same forces Trump has fought in America: domestic institutions, a free press, an independent judiciary, ethics rules, and opponents who still try to insist on democracy and the rule of law.”

Americans will have to decide whether they like the constitutional America the founders bequeathed to them, as adjusted by twenty-seven amendments over many generations, or whether they prefer something more akin to what Viktor Orbán has crafted in Hungary. It might be a worthwhile exercise. Maybe the quaint idea of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has run its course. President Trump’s pal Viktor Orbán has undoubtedly shown a more efficient way to govern. Orbán and his Fidesz Party followers have so jerry-rigged governance in Hungary that Orbán pretty much gets whatever Orbán wants.

Zsuzsanna Szelényi, a Fidesz founding member, said fundamental political and economic differences between Hungary and the U.S. would make it more difficult for such a comprehensive political capture to take place in the U.S.

Still, she said, Hungary’s transformation under Orbán should serve as a warning. “If autocratization starts, it goes on like a snowball,” she said. “It’s not something that stops — it’s a process.”

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Recent podcasts have featured my commentary on Liz Cheney’s book, “Oath and Honor,” as well as my commentaries regarding:

U.S. Representative Jim Jordan,

Brian Kemp and Those Republicans of Georgia,

The Trump Indictments,

The Fox Corp Settlement,

The CNN Trump Town Hall,

The Hunter Biden plea deal,

The New American Cult of Personality,

and my interviews with William Bratton, Retired Chief of Police in New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston;

Rikki Klieman, Attorney, Network News Analyst, and best-selling author;

John Thoresen, Executive Director, Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center;

Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry and founder of the Institute for Political Innovation;

Jazz artist Ann Hampton Callaway;

Outlander author Diana Gabaldon;

AI Data Scientist Lawrence Kite;

Ryan Clancy, Chief Strategist of No Labels;

Former Senator Barbara Boxer;

Former Senator Joe Lieberman;

and former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.

Novels by Hal Gershowitz