As the dawn of a seemingly ambitious era drew closer with the imminent second term of former President Donald Trump, the Prime Minister of a fairly inconspicuous Central European country, Viktor Orbán, wasted no time in painting his own grandiose picture of the future. Parallel to Trump’s ostentatious pledge of a ‘golden age’ for America, Orbán echoed a similar promise for his country, Hungary. With Trump at the helm again, the Prime Minister confidently declared that liberal democracy was due for a catastrophic fall. Revered, or perhaps more aptly feared, for his strongman tactics, Orbán and his ultra-right ethos have attracted U.S. conservatives who envision America steeped heavily in anti-immigration policies, minimal regulations, and a dismissal of those democratic practices they find tedious or troublesome.
Over the years, Orbán carved a close alliance with Trump, visiting the former president’s Florida resort multiple times. In recent affairs, the Hungarian Prime Minister lauded Trump’s solo diplomatic outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, concerning the prolonged war in Ukraine. Trump reciprocated this admiration during one of last year’s presidential debates, praising Orbán as ‘a strong man. He’s a tough person.’
Upon assuming office on the 20th of January, Trump embarked on a voracious abuse of presidential power that mirrors the anti-democratic maneuvers of Orbán and other like-minded leaders who think nothing of sacrificing democratic values on the altar of personal ambition. Clearly, there are alarming similarities between Orbán’s governance style and the former president’s second-term agenda.
Orbán employed the full weight of state power to dismantle rivals and reshaped the judicial landscape to favor his political party, which makes it substantially more challenging for opposition parties to dislodge him. His attempts to limit LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, media freedom, and the functions of civic organizations echo the ghastly recipe used by many a strongman.
The Prime Minister’s solemn vow of ‘never lose again’ following an unexpected electoral defeat in 2002 marks the start of his blueprint to transform Hungary. Orban and his faithful allies worked at drafting a comprehensive legal framework that served to consolidate authority. Swift execution of this plan ensued when Orbán’s Fidesz party clinched an overwhelming victory with a two-thirds majority in 2010.
The European Parliament unreservedly tagged Orban’s Hungary as an ‘electoral autocracy.’ Trump, mirroring Orbán’s lust for power, launched into his term with a sharp increase in executive orders, aimed at inflating the power of the presidency while testing America’s democratic checks and balances.
Trump continued to shake up governmental structures without engaging Congress for its constitutionally mandated consent. The U.S. court system, significantly larger than Hungary’s and packed with judges nominated by prior presidents, Biden included, stands as a potential thorn in exerting unilateral power.
As soon as Orbán regained power, he pushed to rewrite Hungary’s constitution and modified election laws to secure a greater share of legislative positions for his party. These significant alterations are largely credited with his party’s winning streak since 2010, grabbing a two-thirds majority in every election, even with a vote share as low as 44%.
Unlike typical democracies, it’s Hungary’s parties, not the voters themselves, that choose their parliamentary representatives. Such an election model places enormous power directly in Orbán’s hands. Trump, though unable to exert similar control over party elections, did manage to customize the Republican Party to revolve predominantly around personal loyalty to him.
Loyalty was the main driver in Trump’s choice for top government positions, including at major institutions like the U.S. Justice Department, FBI, and U.S. Defense Department. This penchant for personal loyalty somewhat infuses Trumpism into the governing bodies.
Paralleling Orbán’s descent into authoritative rulership was his increased affinity with autocratic nations like Russia and China. Trump has similarly shown open favoritism towards autocratic leaders, Putin in particular – a man he expressed greater trust in than U.S. intelligence agencies. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was deemed ‘brilliant’ by Trump, who has yet to affirm Ukraine’s right to equal participation in peace talks with Russia.
In pulling some chilling parallels between Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump, it becomes obvious that both leaders seriously overstepped their bounds with respect to democratic norms. As representatives of their respective nations, they preferred to test the elasticity of their nations’ democratic values, pushing them to the limit of acceptability.
Yet, as their leadership records should make undeniably clear, their policy stances and governance style have resulted in none of the ‘golden age’ grandeur they promised, but instead fostered a fractured, polarized climate that stands in stark contrast to democratic principles and galvanized tensions within their nations.