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Today’s learning lesson for the GOP. America doesn’t want to be Hungary. And the ousting of a guy who did everything in his power to hold on to it, shows Hungary doesn’t want to be Hungary either. So what is the current GOP to do? Victor Orban has been a hero on the right for years. Y’all loved his authoritarian promises not to just get the government out of the way, but to use the government to impose cultural values on all of us. Y’all admired his control over the media, cracking down on those critical of his party and rewarding those who toed the party line. He rewrote Hungary’s constitution to strengthen his hand. Extreme gerrymandering gave his party more power and changes to election rules benefited his campaigns. He used the power of the state to concentrate wealth among his cronies. He reworked the country’s judicial system and civil service system to stack it with his loyalists. Hungary still had elections, but state control of the media and the apparatus of voting made it very difficult for Orban’s opponents to take power. Until this week. When the power of the people could not be stopped. And they kicked Orban to the curb where he has always belonged. In America the GOP has tried their hardest to bring Hungary to America. But the ideology of white Christian nationalism is unpopular. The only way to make it the law of the land was to impose it through the power of the state. Florida for example. Where Gov DeSantis followed Orban’s model right down to the laws prohibiting discussion of LGBTQ+ issues. And his ridiculous attempt to strip Disney of its governance structure when it refused to adhere to the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Orban’s idea that the power of the state must be used to overturn democracy in favor of a small group of leaders to restore virtue to a nation took control of Trump’s GOP. As Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts put it: “Modern Hungary is not just a model for conservative statecraft but the model.” Calling for “institutionalizing Trumpism,” Roberts pulled together dozens of right-wing institutions behind Project 2025. And created a blueprint for Trump’s second term that uses the power of the government to impose right-wing religious values on the US. The Trump administration embraced Orban’s model internationally as well. Instead of working with our traditional allies, they have attacked Europe and aligned the US with Hungary. And Russia. And the icing on the cake… The man who will replace Orban, Péter Magyar, revealed that Orban was using government money to finance CPAC. Orban has clearly been working for the benefit of Putin. Just days before the election, news broke that last October, Orbán told Putin, “In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service.” And it now appears that CPAC was funded by a foreign government that was working closely with Vladimir Putin. Magyar also told reporters that the outgoing foreign minister, who has been accused of working closely with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, was shredding confidential documents. Those who know Hungarian politics say that Magyar’s party won because voters recognized that Orban’s vow to Make Hungary Great Again was nothing more than a cover for extraordinary corruption of party leaders and cronies. While the destruction of the economy hurt everyday people. Any of this sound familiar?