One down, two to go. Can America do what Hungary has done?

2 thoughts on “One down, two to go. Can America do what Hungary has done?”

1. The following was was written by Paul Krugman

   

   After Victor Orbán’s Fidesz party took power in 2010, Hungary became a role model for those who admired corruption, fascism, and loyalty to Vladimir Putin. Orbán’s regime brought widespread crony capitalism, captured Hungarian media outlets, and installed corrupt judges. He actively undermined solidarity within the European Union and worked to block aid to Ukraine. Sound familiar?

   The U.S. right loved it. In Trumpworld Orbán’s corruption and crony capitalism were features, not bugs. Even more important, Orbán implemented what he himself called “illiberal democracy,” with emphasis on the “illiberal” part, not the democracy. The Orbanist regime was racist, anti-immigrant, homophobic, opposed to free speech and thought. In other words, it was MAGA’s kind of government.

   As a result, Orbán has been the darling of MAGA for many years. He was a star speaker at meetings of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the venue for showcasing movers and shakers on the hard right, receiving standing ovations for his polemics against liberal democracy. In his 2025 CPAC speech, Orbán styled Trump as a “truth serum”, claiming that “It is necessary to dismantle the American and Brussels liberal conspiracy, the transatlantic deep state.”

   And while Orbán didn’t manage to end elections in Hungary — probably because Hungary remains highly dependent on aid from the European Union — he tried hard to lock in one-party rule. His party largely killed the free press, making sure that its allies controlled the media. It rigged the electoral system in ways that would allow it to stay in power unless there was a landslide vote for opposition parties. Again, it did what MAGA is trying to do in America.

   But despite (or perhaps partly because of) JD Vance’s unprecedented campaigning for Orbán, he was, in fact, handed a landslide defeat by the Hungarian people. And to his credit, Orbán did what Trump never has: he conceded defeat.

   Sunday’s stunning victory by Peter Magyar partly reflected economic discontent. When Orbán took power, Hungary was roughly as rich as Poland and substantially richer than Romania. Since then Poland has pulled far ahead while Romania has caught up:

   

   But Hungarians were voting much more than their wallets. The election campaign was marked by huge, inspiring rallies:

   

   Source: AP

   This was a nation aroused, a nation disgusted, a nation that wanted the crooks out of power. And now they are.

   Sunday’s election was, above all, a giant victory for the people of Hungary. But it was also a victory for defenders of freedom and democracy everywhere.

   I wrote recently about what I called the Axis of Autocracy, a very real anti-democracy alliance that included Vladimir Putin, the Orbán regime, right-wing parties like Germany’s neo-Nazi AfD, and, of course, the Trump administration. Now the Axis has lost a wheel.

   The international ramifications will be huge. Among other things, Orbán was an enthusiastic Putin lackey, doing all he could to sabotage European aid to Ukraine. Peter Magyar, who declared in his victory speech that “our country’s place is in Europe,” will presumably end the obstructionism.

   And we’ve had yet another confirmation that Trump is Midas in reverse: Everything he touches turns to, well, something other than gold. Hungarians weren’t swayed to Orbán’s side by the efforts of Trump and Vance; if anything, Magyar, like Canada’s Mark Carney, probably benefited from his opponent’s association with MAGA.

   There will be much more to say as the news from Hungary sinks in. Later this week I’ll talk with my old friend Prof. Kim Lane Scheppele of Princeton, who’s been on the Hungary case since the beginning.

   For now, raise a glass of tokaji to the people of Hungary, who stood up for freedom and justice.

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2. How to Impeach the Bastard, for RealNow’s the time to start organizing

   Robert Reich

   Apr 13READ IN APP

   

   Friends,

   Speaking at a January 6 retreat for House Republicans, Trump stated, “You gotta win the midterms ‘cause, if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just gonna be — I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached.”

   This was before Trump’s agents murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, before the Justice Department released more Epstein files, before Trump’s disastrous war in Iran, before Trump threatened death to the entire Iranian civilization, before a gallon of gas hit $4 or more, before other prices also began rising because of the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, and before additional price hikes associated with Trump’s tariffs had kicked in.

   It was also before Trump’s polls slid to record lows, before the MAGA faithful began complaining that Trump had betrayed his promise to avoid foreign entanglements, and before a slew of special elections in which Democratic candidates have won Republican districts (and even when they didn’t win, lost by far smaller margins than Trump won by in 2024).

   Until recently I thought impeaching Trump and convicting him in the Senate was a pipe dream. I was concerned that even talk of impeachment at this stage might distract attention from the affordability crisis brought on by Trump and could even fortify Republican charges of Democratic “extremism.”

   No longer.

   The president of the United States is stark-raving mad. He’s a clear and present danger to America and the world. The American public is beginning to see it.

   We’ve got to do whatever we legally can to remove him from office. The 25th Amendment would be useful if Trump’s Cabinet and key advisers had any integrity, but they don’t. They’re ambitious, unprincipled traitors.

   Which leaves impeachment.

   You may be skeptical. After all, he’s already been impeached twice, to no avail. How can the third time be the charm?

   Because it seems likely that Democrats will retake control of the House and the Senate in this fall’s midterm elections (unless Trump prevents free and fair elections).

   And because it’s also possible that there will be enough votes in the Senate starting next January to convict Trump of impeachable offenses and send him packing.

   I understand how difficult this may seem. Both times Trump was impeached in the House, he was saved by the Constitution’s requirement that two-thirds of the Senate (67 senators, assuming all 100 are present) convict in order to remove a president.

   The highest Senate vote count against Trump came in 2021, and it was 10 votes short of the constitutional requirement. Fifty-seven senators, including seven Republicans, voted to convict him of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in U.S. Senate history, but it still fell well short of the 67 votes needed to convict Trump.

   So why do I think it’s possible now? Because public sentiment has swung further against Trump now than it was in 2021. And it’s likely to swing even further against him, because he’s going out of his mind at a rapid rate.

   The way to accomplish this is to defeat enough incumbent Republican senators who are up for reelection in 2026 to create a Democratic majority in that chamber, totaling some 54 votes, and pressure at least 13 Republicans up for reelection in 2028 to vote to convict him.

   That’s not impossible. In the upcoming midterms it’s likely that Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins will be replaced by a Democrat (either Janet Mills or Graham Platner). I also assume that former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper will replace Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who’s retiring.

   And I’d like to believe that the good people of Ohio will see the light and reelect Sherrod Brown over Jon Husted, the dullard who was appointed to fill the remainder of JD Vance’s term.

   James Talarico could take the Texas Republican Senate seat now occupied by John Cornyn. In Alaska, I’d put odds on Mary Peltola defeating incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. In Nebraska, assume that Dan Osborn prevails over incumbent Republican Senator Pete Ricketts. And so on.

   Republican senators last elected in 2022 who will be on the ballot in November 2028 include some who are vulnerable because they’re in swing states, such as North Carolina’s Ted Budd and Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson; or are in states that could be competitive, such as Indiana’s Todd Young; or are vulnerable to internal party shifts, such as Louisiana’s John Kennedy and South Carolina’s Tim Scott.

   Those vulnerabilities mean that their constituents could push them to vote to convict Trump in an impeachment, or else threaten to vote against them in 2028.

   So it’s possible to get the 67 Senate votes, my friends. And it’s absolutely necessary that we try.

   The vast No Kings demonstrations should be considered a prelude to targeting enough Republican Senate incumbents and open races to flip the Senate this fall, and pressuring Republicans up for reelection in 2028 to do their constitutional duty.

   Now is the time to show the size and intensity of America’s commitment to removing Trump from office, for the good of us all.

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