Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s defeat in the election marks a significant victory for democracy and a lesson that authoritarian politics can be overcome with effective organization and a focus on everyday concerns.
Anne Applebaum’s recent article, “Kleptocracy, Inc.,” argues that the US is undergoing a revolutionary shift towards the corrupt practices of autocratic regimes, with President Trump’s administration blurring the line between public power and personal interest and dismantling the country’s anti-corruption infrastructure.
Trump’s threat to democracy is not that he will become a king, but that he has become a kleptocrat, exploiting national resources and stealing from the public treasury to enrich himself, his family, and his allies.
As polarization deepens and the norms of liberal democracy are dismantled by a radicalized Republican Party, the eventual consequence is likely to be a radicalization of the left, which will only exacerbate the current political crisis.
The Trump administration has stripped federal research funding from university departments critical of the administration, DEI offices have been shuttered, and public universities are being forced to comply with “patriotic education” mandates, while the National Science Foundation is overseen by appointees with ideological litmus tests, and ICE and military units have been mobilized to create detention centers that look increasingly like mass deportation camps.