These points are fine, but the starting point is that the electoral system and the structure of the state enabled Orbán to do all this.
He came to power during a political crisis, but formally, he gained a basically omnipotent authority in a system that was - and I believe still is - considered democratic at its core.
He had obtained a legal opportunity to play by his rules, and to destroy any and all checks and balances.
We have to face the fact that beyond a point we can only hope that our elected leaders are decent enough to not use their power abusively.
The main difference (other than the shear amount of damage Trump can do because of the resources available to him) between the two leaders is that Orban can still think clearly. He's been in power a long time and his policies are catching up with him, whereas Trump is clearly living in a parallel reality. He is an ageing, mentally declining mobster who somehow got elected president of the US and the people around him keep him in a kind of Truman show reality.
There is a possibility that Trump has some mental issues, but I believe that most of the differences are coming from personality traits, and a different professional and cultural background. To put it simply, from Hungary, Trump seems like a stereotypical American businessman, and acts accordingly.
One further comment: there is no 'playbook', there is only ruling the moment. Fuck me if I can count the number of 20-year-strategies from the last 15 years.
Your 10 points to define an Orban or Trump are, in fact, what every President in the U.S. has attempted since Reagan. Please come ups with something original.
These are not my points; I merely borrowed them and added my comments. And yes, the struggle for power includes similar steps everywhere. Other presidents tried to do it, and checks and balances successfully restrained them; the same will eventually happen to Trump as well. This is the main difference between the US and Hungary.
These points are fine, but the starting point is that the electoral system and the structure of the state enabled Orbán to do all this.
He came to power during a political crisis, but formally, he gained a basically omnipotent authority in a system that was - and I believe still is - considered democratic at its core.
He had obtained a legal opportunity to play by his rules, and to destroy any and all checks and balances.
We have to face the fact that beyond a point we can only hope that our elected leaders are decent enough to not use their power abusively.
The main difference (other than the shear amount of damage Trump can do because of the resources available to him) between the two leaders is that Orban can still think clearly. He's been in power a long time and his policies are catching up with him, whereas Trump is clearly living in a parallel reality. He is an ageing, mentally declining mobster who somehow got elected president of the US and the people around him keep him in a kind of Truman show reality.
There is a possibility that Trump has some mental issues, but I believe that most of the differences are coming from personality traits, and a different professional and cultural background. To put it simply, from Hungary, Trump seems like a stereotypical American businessman, and acts accordingly.
One further comment: there is no 'playbook', there is only ruling the moment. Fuck me if I can count the number of 20-year-strategies from the last 15 years.
Your 10 points to define an Orban or Trump are, in fact, what every President in the U.S. has attempted since Reagan. Please come ups with something original.
These are not my points; I merely borrowed them and added my comments. And yes, the struggle for power includes similar steps everywhere. Other presidents tried to do it, and checks and balances successfully restrained them; the same will eventually happen to Trump as well. This is the main difference between the US and Hungary.
Well said