Trump's Mentor Is A Dictator

What Viktor Orban’s Hungary can show us about our future.

(Quick programming note: It’s been a bit quiet lately, I’m getting over a pretty wicked virus.)

This country’s population of 9.5 million is roughly equal to the population of New Jersey. At $212 billion its Gross Domestic Product is about one-third that of the Garden State’s. Jersey has a major international seaport. This country is landlocked. Airports? Fuggetaboutit.

What country am I talking about?

Hungary.

Why am I talking about it?

Because the Republican Party considers Hungary a model to emulate. And its autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orban, seems to have more influence on Donald Trump than any other world leader. Orban openly supported Trump’s 2024 campaign and was among the first to visit him at Mar-a-Lago after he was elected. Trump, who clearly admires him, has said Orban is “fantastic” and “a great man, a great leader…”

Orban, who became prime minister in 2010, has steadily taken power into his own hands. He now dominates Hungary’s judiciary, legislature and press and his party has such a strong grip on the political system that elections are pro-forma events. Consider what Orban has accomplished and what Trump intends to achieve, and you get a sense of both his inspiration and his destination.

The press: Orban has bypassed the independent media by cultivating a network of 500 outlets, which receive 85 percent of government advertising. Many Hungarians consume news only from the Orban press. For his part, Trump is nibbling away at press freedom. Administration officials favor journalists who fawn all over him (Fox News) and try to intimidate all the others. Reporters whom Trump doesn’t like are banned from the White House press room.

The courts: Like Orban, Trump seeks to control the country’s judicial system. He has gone after certain law firms, crippling their ability to work on cases involving the federal government. He is politicizing the Department of Justice. He even defied a federal judge’s order to return deportees being flown to El Salvador for imprisonment.

Immigration: Orban cracked down on refugees and illegal immigrants, so has Trump. Most recently he cancelled grants to organizations that aid refugees. The result? The closure of the Catholic charity that has done this work for a century.

Nationalism: The prime minister is a nationalist who abhors diversity, so is Trump.

Cracking down on universities: Orban does it and so does Trump, who threatens to cancel federal funding for research and other programs

Attacking long-standing allies: Check

Cozying up to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin? Check.

As the evidence shows, Trump is mimicking Orban’s anti-democracy drive, consolidating power in the executive branch. This has always been Trump’s desire, but Orban showed him the way to implement his instinct.

Orban’s influence extends beyond Trump as he has become the darling of Trumpist media outlets and a source of inspiration (and advice) for groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC.)

Orban met with Heritage’s top brass in March of 2024 as the foundation was developing its blueprint for Trump’s presidency, called Project 2025. The document bears the prime minister’s influence in many of its chapters. (The head of Heritage has called Orban’s Hungary, “ …a model for conservative statecraft…”) CPAC welcomed Orban to its annual meeting in 2022. Attendees cheered as he railed against immigrants and liberals and declared that “gender ideology” (the movement to guard LGBTQ rights) is equivalent to Communism.

Hungary’s shift from vibrant democracy to soft dictatorship happened gradually and most Hungarians are not personally affected by Orban and his policies. Like Americans under Trump, they go to work every day, take care of themselves and their families, and enjoy their weekends and vacations. But as in America, those in Hungary who are concerned with democracy live in a state of alarm, aware that their nation no longer enjoys free and fair elections, a free press, or the rule of law.

That Trump is headed in Orban’s direction in not in doubt. The most disturbing aspect of this reality is in what lies ahead should he stay the course. You see, shortly after they took office, Orban and his cronies in the legislature rewrote Hungary’s constitution. The new one curtailed the power of the courts, and a later amendment banned the independent press from publishing or airing political ads. In 2022, citing the war in Ukraine, Orban declared martial law, which gave him new power to rule by decree. .

For now, it seems very unlikely that Trump would or could act so dictatorially. However, I can imagine a moment when he might be tempted. If he asks himself, “What would Viktor Orban do?” we will be in for a hell of a lot of trouble.