How do you win electorally having lost culturally? For Brussels, when it came to Hungary, that was the challenge. For years, now-former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n proved quite the maverick\u2014at the helm of a tiny, landlocked country of just 10 million people, he had succeeded in not just holding his own internally, winning election after election, approving an \u2018illiberal\u2019 (or, better said, post-liberal) constitution, and safeguarding his nation\u2019s border from the Brussels-approved migratory assault. More egregiously and intolerably, Orb\u00e1n made Hungary a countercultural bulwark of conservative ideas and foreign policy restraint, providing nationalists and antiglobalists elsewhere in the West with a proven guideline of how to govern\u2014that is, how to effectively fight back against the globalist-progressive machine that operates in Europe under the EU brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was only one problem for the Brusselians\u2014no matter how much foul play they were ready to resort to, from massive influence operations through the vast network of loyal NGOs the Commission funded in Budapest to the freezing of tens of billions in funding legitimately owed to the country\u2019s budget, Hungarians just couldn\u2019t be convinced to vote for the Left. For long, the propaganda narrative around Europe was that Orb\u00e1n, as a political project, was an anomaly: that the prime minister\u2019s brand of conservative nationalism and foreign policy realism was Orb\u00e1n\u2019s alone; that his illiberal turn was unpopular, if not reviled, at home; and that Budapest\u2019s stern opposition to EU-mandated migratory insanity, bellicose adventurism against Russia, refusal of Ukrainian membership of the Union, and self-sabotage in energy policy was not happening because of Hungarians, but in spite of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This public narrative was designed for the most distracted and believed by the silliest, within and outside the EU\u2019s bureaucratic machinery. But at least the wisest, savviest of these mandarins understood perfectly well that these tales had little to no connection to reality. Whatever Orb\u00e1n\u2019s ills, being out of touch was not among them; in that sense, at least, he was a genuine \u2018populist\u2019 inasmuch as he governed in strong obedience to the popular will. True, Orb\u00e1n fought tooth and nail to safeguard Hungary from the ludicrous open-door policies that have ravaged Europe in the past 15 years, even accepting the vast financial burden of a daily one million euro fine paid to the Commission for keeping the illegal intruders at bay<\/a>. But in so doing, he had the overwhelming support of the Hungarian people, with 77% of voters opposing the EU\u2019s migrant quota plans, according to a 2023 poll<\/a>. Similarly, 2019 polls showed that 87.5% of Hungarians opposed non-European immigration<\/a>. The same goes for Orb\u00e1n\u2019s war policy, with 80% opposing the supply of arms to Kiev<\/a> in 2022. Even after Magyar\u2019s victory, only 27% would support Budapest unblocking EU membership negotiations with Ukraine, with 54% adamantly opposed<\/a>. More than half of Hungarians (52%) also oppose giving up on Russian energy exports.<\/p>\n The Eurocrats knew they could not retake Hungary by offering its people a happy-clappy SJW progressive in the form of Spain\u2019s Pedro S\u00e1nchez or Canada\u2019s former prime minister Pierre Trudeau nor a rancid technocrat like Germany\u2019s Friedrich Merz. Neither would do. What they needed, rather, was someone who sounded like Orb\u00e1n and walked like Orb\u00e1n\u2014but was nothing like Orb\u00e1n. Having lost the argument, their only hope was an Orb\u00e1n impersonator. That person was P\u00e9ter Magyar, a Fidesz veteran who spared no effort to convince his people that he would be Orb\u00e1n 2.0, or an Orb\u00e1n without whatever people had grown tired of in the original. Magyar, thus, positioned himself firmly on the right on issues like immigration<\/a> and Russian oil<\/a>. On Ukraine, he opposed fast-tracking Kiev\u2019s entry into the Union<\/a> and has even tied Budapest\u2019s stance on the issue to a popular referendum.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n That was smart politicking\u2014and it earned Magyar the supermajority he craved. Since Hungary\u2019s election on April 12th, however, the new prime minister has proved his critics correct by revealing himself as a Trojan horse candidate. Time and again, he had made clear that what is next for Hungary is a repetition of the Polish scenario, where Donald Tusk\u2014despite losing the 2023 parliamentary election\u2014concocted a parliamentary coup to place himself in power. He then proceeded to purge the government and media from conservative elements with wanton authoritarianism, even sending the police after journalists he wasn\u2019t happy with<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is now clear that Magyar will follow that same model to impose an authoritarian, EU-aligned, and progressive regime in Hungary. Like Tusk in Poland, he has now announced his determination to close Hungary\u2019s state TV<\/a>, accusing it of being close to Orb\u00e1n. In his first speech as prime minister, he has made clear that he wishes to \u201cpunish\u201d the crimes of the outgoing government<\/a>, language that would be universally condemned if an incoming right-winger had said it of a previous progressive executive. He has insisted on his demand that Hungarian President Tam\u00e1s Sulyok, who was lawfully elected during Orb\u00e1n\u2019s tenure and is the former prime minister\u2019s ally, resign his office for no apparent reason other than Magyar\u2019s desire for total control. He is bent on crushing any form of opposition to his rule, whether political or cultural; he wishes to expropriate the assets of important conservative-leaning think tanks such as the Mathias Corvinus Collegium<\/a>. Even though no court of law in a free country would agree to his authoritarian projects, Magyar\u2019s two-thirds majority in parliament allows him to vassalise the country\u2019s National Judicial Council, therefore giving him vast influence over courts. He even wanted to have his own brother-in-law, M\u00e1rton Mell\u00e9thei-Barna, appointed as Justice Minister. The only reason this didn\u2019t happen was the public outcry<\/a> it generated.<\/p>\n He has seemingly tired of pretending to be centre-right, too. He nominated a far-left LGBT activist, Judith Lannert, as education minister<\/a>. Meanwhile, his new Foreign Minister, Anita Orb\u00e1n, is a globalist fanatic wholly committed to the erosion of Hungarian independence and the adoption of the European Commission\u2019s talking points<\/a>. His government\u2019s promises of border rigidity are falling apart pretty rapidly \u2014 Anita Orb\u00e1n is now on record arguing for Hungary\u2019s submission to the EU\u2019s Migration Pact, signalling a full capitulation on the migratory dossier.<\/a> With Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s plots to impose her will on the Hungarian people successful, it will hardly surprise that the EU\u2019s flag has now been raised in Hungary\u2019s beautiful parliament building for the first time in years<\/a>, with the EU\u2019s anthem sung during Magyar\u2019s investiture<\/a>. The gratuitous insult to Hungary had a taste of 1956. Then as now, a Hungarian patriotic revolt was crushed by the machinations of a foreign empire; then as now, brute force seemed triumphant.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t. As brazenly authoritarian and EU-aligned\u2014that is, Hungary-disaligned\u2014as the new regime appears to be, the fraud Magyar relied on to win the election is quickly falling apart. Many who fell for the lie are now opening their eyes, and a reorganisation of the Hungarian conservative movement is ongoing. The Hungarian right has no lack of talented leaders ready to punch back. Don\u2019t count Hungary out just yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How do you win electorally having lost culturally? 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