Trump endorses autocratic Hungarian leader (msn.com)
I never asked Trump his opinion on who should be running Hungary. Has anyone? Especially -- oh, I don't know -- anyone living in Hungary?
This brings to mind Nassim Taleb's term, "skin in the game." Trump has no skin in the Hungarian game. Should Orban perpetuate his hold on power and should that bring disaster to great numbers of people in Hungary: would that harm Trump? Not at all. Just more souls thrown under the bus of his ego.
that will be enough for today.
To say "more souls thrown under the bus of his ego" implies that Trump's endorsement will help Orban perpetuate his hold on power. Will it? Might it have an unfavorable effect on Orban or no effect, if Orban, being a dictator, can ensure his "re-election." I do not follow what's happening in Hungary, so I'm just asking.
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ReplyDeleteShort summary: there will be a parliamentary election in Hungary April 3. Also on the ballot that day, BTW, a referendum on LGBT issues. Orban sees himself as safeguarding Hungary's innocent children from malign gay/trans influences.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, Orban and his party, Fidesz, are on the receiving end of a serious challenge by an unlikely coalition of six opposition parties.
Those parties, which agree on hardly anything else, are working as a single united bloc, which they see, sensibly, as necessary to contend with an uneven playing field created by Orban's party's seizure of much of the media. Republikon (a domestic think tank) has been polling and its results show the race is now neck-and-neck.
My concern, too concisely expressed above, if that IF this coalition effort fails to unseat Orban, it could have a devastating effect on potential opposition, creating a sense of helplessness on which Orban could coast for years to come.
As for Orban's ability simply to declare himself a winner whatever the vote is: that is possible, but EU influence limits it somewhat. And Orban's government, much as it talks of going its own way, is not so mad that it doesn't want to remain a member of the EU in good standing. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungary-is-will-remain-member-eu-foreign-minister-2021-08-24/
Will Trump's statements matter? They may. Nationalists have no principles that bar them from internationalizing their own efforts. Orban is seeking to portray himself as a central figure in a global movement, and Trump has now helped him in that.