Politico: I Watched Orban Destroy Hungary's Democracy. Here's My Advice for the Trump Era.

[Dennis Donovan]

Politico - (archived: https://archive.ph/0atrF ) I Watched Orbán Destroy Hungary’s Democracy. Here’s My Advice for the Trump Era.

To dismantle the machinery of autocracy, you first need to understand how it works.


President-elect Donald Trump is following a playbook pioneered by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images

By Gábor Scheiring
11/23/2024 12:00 PM EST

Gábor Scheiring is a former member of the Hungarian parliament and an assistant professor of comparative politics at Georgetown University Qatar.

Many believed that after his first term as president, Donald Trump would end up in the dustbin of history. Now Trump is back, and the United States is about to be ruled for the second time by a right-wing populist.

Trump’s goal this time is to remake the American government to enhance his power. He isn’t the first modern right-wing populist to attempt this — he is following a playbook pioneered by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. I lived through Orbán’s power grab as a member of Hungary’s parliament and have been researching populism since. I’ve learned a few things along the way that might help Trump’s opponents understand how he won and how they can fight back.

First off, it’s important to understand that America isn’t the first country to face this kind of threat to its democracy, and it also isn’t something external. Autocratic populism is not a virus the U.S. caught from the exotic East, from Russia or Hungary. Modern-day autocracies come to power through elections, leading to electoral autocracies. These regimes are built from within the democratic system.

This is what Orbán did so successfully, which is why he has inspired other autocrats. America’s radical conservatives have been paying attention. Steve Bannon has called Orbán “Trump before Trump.” Vice President-elect JD Vance has cited Orbán as an inspiration, who “we could learn from in the United States.”

Orbán’s power grab program runs on two components that you can think of as hardware and software. The populist hardware consists of hijacked institutions. The software is made up of populist discourses and narratives that are used to create and enlist the consent of the ruled.

Dismantling the hardware of the Orbán-Trump project requires first defeating its software, so let’s start there.

/snip

[Pinback]

1. Thanks. Bookmarking. (nt)

[Lovie777]

2. Now Politico is concerned.......

USA is fucked.

[regnaD kciN]

26. Yes. Nice of Das Politico (as KO calls it)...

…to start worrying about the Fourth Reich, after spending the past year promoting it.

[highplainsdem]

3. Bookmarked. Thank you! K&R!

[mzmolly]

4. Excellent article.

Thank you for sharing.

This among other portions of the piece, stand out.

— The media. Fighting for media pluralism and independence is vital. Investigative journalism helps, but it tends to preach to the converted. There need to be news channels and media outlets for getting messages across to non-metropolitan areas dominated by far-right news sources. Liberal-minded billionaires should not sit idly by as they did in Hungary, watching the right take over the media. The New Right is also significantly more embedded in social media than liberals are. Those of us who favor democracy cannot let Elon Musks and Andrew Tates control the public discourse. Progressive influencers: Time to log in and post away — there’s a narrative battle to win.

[Raven]

5. This should be required reading.

[sop]

6. Trump and his henchmen will never tell their MAGA followers they want to "destroy democracy,"

they just want to dismantle democratic institutions. His followers don't understand our democratic institutions are the only things protecting our democracy.

[Irish_Dem]

16. The MAGA cult does not want a democracy.

A democracy means women and minorities are allowed to vote.
Voters are only supposed to be white males.

[travelingthrulife]

58. Trump does tell them that and they cheer.

And then babble about how democracy is not the only form of government and it's not a democracy it's a federalist society, blah, blah, blah...

[sop]

60. 'Trump Has Vowed to Shake Some of Democracy's Pillars'

"For his part, Trump says he is intent on restoring democracy, not tearing it down." Trump just wants his brand of "democracy." And to achieve authoritarian rule he promises to destroy many of our democratic institutions.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2024-11-06/trump-has-vowed-to-shake-some-of-democracys-pillars

[jalan48]

7. In the past few years Orban has met alone with Republicans and Trump to advise them on how to do an autocratic takeover.

The fact that these meetings were taking place was well known, unfortunately not enough citizens cared or paid attention.

[Irish_Dem]

17. Trump could meet with the devil and the maga cult would cheer him for it.

[jalan48]

18. Yep. They have bought into the fantasy land of Jesus and returning to the good old days, dragging us with them.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Their fantasy that Trump is the new religious lord and savior is mind blowing.

A ruthless dangerous psychopath criminal is the new Jesus.

Totally psychotic.

[jalan48]

20. It's a depressing situation. I'm focusing on my local volunteer stuff and it's helping a lot.

[Irish_Dem]

21. Yes we need to work on coping strategies.

What we are looking at is horrific.

[wnylib]

53. I know that Hitler comparisons are overworked sometimes

but they hold true on the "divine cult" tactic. Hitler used it very effectively. He used religious quotes and prayers in public speeches that implied that he had divine approval and that Germany had a divine destiny.

The Nazi Party installed influencers in churches to persuade people to those views. They created the German National Church. Several clergy resisted openly and in underground resistance activities. They were arrested and put in concentration camps where some were executed while others died of starvation and disease along with other camp prisoners. A few survived. Some who were from other countries were deported.

Trump is copying those tactics i.e. his use of Ave Maria at his rallies, his sale of "patriotic Bibles." Christian Nationalists are getting elected and appointed to givernment positions. Their version of Christianity has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus and everything to do with personal power.

Cults are not always religious, but religion is a ready made organization for cultists to take over. OTOH, it is also a ready made organization for resistance among churches that do not subscribe to the cult of merging religion with politics.

[Irish_Dem]

54. The Hitler analogy is quite appropriate.

I did not realize the extent of Hitler's use of religious dogma to further entice his cult followers.

Interesting, Japan had an extreme version of this propaganda method. They had been taught that their emperor was divine. God's human representative on earth. They would die for him on command. And indeed the kamikaze soldiers did fight to the death in WWII. The soldiers in the field fought to their death and rarely surrendered. Because of this the fighting was beyond horrific in the Pacific islands.

As the Allied forces approached Japan, preparing to invade, the emperor and military were telling the women and children to fight to the death. Giving them sword and hand to hand combat lessons. Covert intelligence reports indicated to Truman that if the Allies invaded Japan, the death count would be over 2 million. Allied casualties would be very high as would
deaths in the Japanese civilian population, many of them women and children. Truman was running out of good options.

Yes religion is such a strong force in people that it can be used against them, used to trick them into doing all kinds of things. The Jesuits, the intelligentsia and proselytizing arm of the Catholic Church was superb at this. When they went into a foreign land to foist Catholicism on the indigenous people, they would use existing pagan rituals and words and roll those over into the persuasive sales pitch. So we see pagan rituals as part of the Christian ritual system and holidays to this day.

And of course we see a psychopath criminal like Trump use religion as a weapon and cult strategy. This is a man who is the least religious person we can think of. His personal bible sales are laughable if not so tragic.

Someday people will be writing articles about how religious manipulation was part of losing American democracy. If such topics are allowed to be written that is.

[wnylib]

67. Here's a little background on Hitler's use of religion.

There's much more to it than this article tells, but it gives a good overview.

Privately, in his inner circle, Hitler talked about eventually destroying religion, but publicly he claimed to support the churches. He used prayers at public appearances. But he also encouraged people to have a worshipful attitude toward him as divinely chosen to lead the people.

https://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/religion-in-nazi-germany/

[Irish_Dem]

68. Thank you.

We can assume that Trump also uses religion as a tool and weapon.

A way to entice the cult.
And also to insinuate his own divinity.

[mollie8]

56. Total capitulation

Waiting for the second coming...

[Efilroft Sul]

40. Only Nixon could go to China, and Trump can go to Hell.

[Irish_Dem]

42. Instead Trump has brought hell to us.

[dalton99a]

8. A must read.

[Solly Mack]

9. K&R

[Cirsium]

10. Important points

"To win the fight against autocracy, above all, the Democratic Party must reconnect with the working class to preserve liberal institutions. There are simply not enough educated moderate suburbanites for an electoral majority."

"Democrats must learn to avoid coming across as condescending intellectuals and learn to valorize the working class. Instead of solely focusing on abstract aggregates dear to experts, Democrats must pay more attention to the lived experience of economic change. Embrace the mundane and be down to earth; it will not compromise but will enliven your transformative vision of justice and democracy."

"You don’t protect democracy by talking about democracy — you protect democracy by protecting people."

[nycbos]

12. Unfortunately

A lot of the folks the article talks about feels screwed over by the institutions. And their. feelings aren’t illegitimate. Unfortunately, that started 40 years Ago and the only message they hear is Trump’s narrative. It’s going to take a while to correct that trend.

[orangecrush]

14. It started with Reagan

Who used the same method as Trump.

[nycbos]

15. Yes, but...

… there was a big difference between the GOP and Reagan and Trump. I found a clip from the 1980 Republican primary debate on YouTube and Reagan and Bush Senior were falling over themselves to sound more pro immigrant.

https://m.

[orangecrush]

24. True

But creating "the other" ("welfare queens", etc.) was a big part of Reagan's schtick.

I was a steelworker then, and watched them all vote for Reagan, then he dropped tariffs on Japanese steel, closed the mills and broke the Union.

[MadameButterfly]

50. OMG. I never thought I'd think these two guys were enlightened

but you have the answer. Make America listen to this. From their Republican idols, not from us. Kamala and Biden wouldn't dare sound this liberal

[Cirsium]

61. Isn't that amazing?

Indeed. Kamala and Biden wouldn't dare sound this liberal. "Open the border both ways" says Reagan.

[MadameButterfly]

51. I wish I could give this more recs

It deserves to be heard. Could you make an OP with this? Really it should be more widely heard.

[orangecrush]

66. Thanks!

Will give it a a shot.

[orangecrush]

13. Beat me to it.

[Ocelot II]

31. Isn't that what Harris and especially Walz tried to do?

[Cirsium]

39. No

Unfortunately, no. It is a real tragedy.

[Ocelot II]

41. Huh. I must have been listening to a different Harris and Walz team.

[Cirsium]

44. Probably, yes

I am certainly guilty of hearing what I want to hear. The stakes were so high. The result is so devastating. We can hardly blame people for questioning everything, for challenging our assumptions. If not now, when? It may already be too late.

Lest anyone imagine that my critical remarks are a sign of some sort of disloyalty, I have voted Democratic in every election for over 50 years, volunteered, donated, etc.

“Politicians respond to only one thing—power. This is not the flaw of democracy, it’s the entire point. It’s the job of activists to generate, and apply, enough pressure on the system to affect change.” - Ta-Nehisi Coates

The politicians are supposed to represent us, they are supposed to have our backs. We should not be asked to represent and protect them. We look for loyalty from them, not to be badgered by demands for loyalty to them.

"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it." Abraham Lincoln from the House Divided speech

Critical analysis of exactly where we are and how we got here is vitally important, more so than ever before. We are in the most dangerous passage in US history since 1860. As Lincoln said at the time "The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." - Ralph Waldo Emerson from Self-Reliance

I think that the upper middle class people who control academia, the media, the non-profits, and the party are severely out of touch with the reality that most people in the country are facing. The Harris campaign did not reach blue collar voters. How do we know that to be true? Because she did not reach blue collar voters in the only way that we can measure that, by the election results.

Whatever appeals that the campaign made to blue collar people were insultingly condescending: look, Walz is a hunter! That should appeal to those low lifes. Look, Harris worked in a McDonald's; or else they were Republican light: we are tough on the border too! It is hard to imagine a more tone deaf campaign. It had to be tone deaf for Trump to win. Early in the campaign Harris talked about corporate greed, but that was scrubbed, apparently at the behest of wealthy donors.

We are paying the price now for mistakes that were made made back in 2004-2010 and repeated ever since. I was among the working class rural people back in 2008. Obama, and the Democrats in general, did very well in 2006 and 2008 across the Midwest. Many districts went Democratic for the first time in years. I know first hand that people heard and understood the promises Obama made. They also were fully aware that Obama and the congressional Democrats broke those promises once he got into office.

Liberalism was definitely not outside the “Overton Window” as some like to claim as an excuse for failure. In the packing plants, the fields, and the shops , I would say “didn’t Limbaugh say Obama was a Socialist?” to which the almost universal response was “maybe that is just what we need.” On the race issue, when I asked if they were willing to vote for a Black person the typical response was “I don’t care about that, if he can help us, I am all for him.”

People expected at least a fight for universal health care, not an immediate sell out to the health care corporations. People expected an end to the immigrant raids on the farms, not an escalation. People expected Wall Street to be forced to pay for the 2008 crash, not to see the fat cats bailed out and propped back up. We were promised rural broadband, card check, help for rural schools, a repeal of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, relief for people facing foreclosure, tougher rules against the “revolving door” of lobbyists and government officials moving back and forth, etc.. etc.

Yeah, I know, baby steps, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, these things take time, look how bad the Republicans are, etc. We have been hearing that for 50 years and we have been going backward that whole time.

Obama betrayed the voters — not just the liberal base — on the issues that matter the most to struggling working class people. That opened the door for a right wing populist movement. Failure doesn’t come any bigger than that, because job one for the Democratic party politicians was to prevent the country from sliding into a fascist nightmare. If that is not true I don't know what is. The only legitimate way to measure our approach is by whether or not it worked. It did not work.

This is from a New York Times article about a forum Harris held hosted by Oprah Winfrey:

Meryl Streep asked Ms. Harris how she was preparing for the “long slog of shenanigans” that may come should Mr. Trump not accept the election’s results and incite violence reminiscent of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Ms. Harris said her team was ready for Mr. Trump to challenge the election: The “lawyers are working.” But she encouraged people to talk with their friends about misinformation, to protect poll workers and to not be afraid to vote.

Anyone see the problem there? The Trump campaign responded with this:

(Harris is campaigning) “with an out-of-touch celebrity, further confirming that the Democrat party is not the party of hardworking Americans — it is the party of elitists." Whether or not what the Trump campaign said is true or not is sort of irrelevant. It worked, and the party leadership played right into their hands.

[Six117]

57. That's what I was thinking.

President Biden *walked a picket line* and is incredibly pro union. Unions made good progress under his administration, and yet people still voted to trash it all.

Let's not forget.

[TRHST82]

35. I think it's impossible to reach most white working class R voters no matter what you do.

The Democratic party needs more crafty, ruthless politicians as well as a more organized media ecosystem to mobilize the base and win over low-info independents.

[MadameButterfly]

52. In short, Bernie was right

And the Democratic establishment didn't understand this.

The Bernie Bros became Magas.
I'm not defending some of their behavior, only saying if you want the votes of the disenchanted, you can't look down on them.
Nor am I saying Bernie is perfect. But we need to learn from the article behind this OP and it points us to everything Bernie is about. He himself is no longer an option for president but maybe we should listen to him instead of fear the direction he wants to take us.
He wants to keep it simple, understandable for uneducated voters, and his focus has always been on class and the dignity and finances of working people. If you don't have economic freedom he says, you aren't free.

I attended a talk by Dr. Lafayette, a Freedom Rider, who said that the reason the moneyed class wanted to keep Black and White workers from sitting down together at the lunch counters was that they might find they had something in common. And united they'd be an unbeatable force.
i believe we have focussed too much on identity politics. This is important, of course. But it's a matter of emphasis. The White working class that used to be Democratic feels forgotten in our march toward moderation alongside the growing income gap. Gradually, Black and Brown working class are following suit.
For Bernie, it has always been about the workers. All of the workers.

[andym]

11. Article should be pinned on front page of DU

The article puts in perspective what's really happening and how to counter it. It explains why appeals to democracy, equality or even freedom won't work to counter right-wing populism.

[La Coliniere]

22. An informative and instructive essay

that every DUer should take the time to read.

[Native]

23. K & R, enthusiastically.

[Elessar Zappa]

25. That's an excellent article.

And I agree wholeheartedly with his antidotes.

[TheKentuckian]

27. Thank you for sharing this.

[Linda ladeewolf]

28. I'd guess

We need to be more down home, rather than putting them down as deplorables. Perhaps we should change our ways of referring to the rural folks as trailer trash and just call them country folk.

[summer_in_TX]

69. Our language is critical. It reveals our attitudes.

We have developed a habit of talking from a place of superiority and trashing those who think differently from us. Our contempt is part of what triggers their backlash. And no wonder. Each of us HATES being talked down too, being labeled, having our motivations assumed to be bad. Basic human psychology.

We need to move from a culture of contempt to one of respect, even if we have to fake it until we make it. When Rush Limbaugh told his audience that Democrats despise them, it was the element of truth in it that helped him harden their attitudes.

It is possible to express our anger and disappointment without adding contempt and loathing into the mix. How we say things matters.

“There’s no way around the devastating reality of what has happened. We now enter an even more challenging time. But remember this: authoritarianism feeds on hopelessness, loneliness and despair. We must lean into agency, community and love. As much as you can, go there.”
~Ian Bassin, former White House counsel and founder and director of the nonprofit organization Protect Democracy

Our anger at those who voted for Trump is understandable, but for the sake of our democracy we have to get beyond it. The thing that helps me the best is remembering that they are victims of decades of brainwashing. The brainwashers are the one who bear the vast responsibility. The majority of Trump's voters, no matter the sometimes ugly rhetoric and behavior, are unfortunate victims. Many are decent people in many ways. They work hard, help their neighbors, are mostly kind.

Of course the violent white supremacists are not victims.

How can we DUers help each other to work towards retraining ourselves? If we want to prevent the software of democracy from being completely overturned so Trump and his enablers then have a clear field to go after the hardware of democracy, it seems to me we really need to work on our habits while we work on everything else. Bad habits are hard to break. But would it be possible to remind one another, just like Timothy Snyder urges us to stop. And when someone comes back at us about their "freedom of speech," perhaps we can speak our piece peaceably, and push back gently against any piling on.

No more wondering if Trump voters are racist, fascist, moronic, evil, even in a cult. That is just another way of accusing them of being each of those things. The majority of Trump voters are none of those things, if we only understand more about them.

Saying even among ourselves that we will "NEVER forgive them" which I've read many times here is a self-indulgence we can no longer afford if we are going to turn things around. Likewise the labels.

I sense many of us will never try to change ourselves, will never recognize that we have played a role in this deep estrangement between Americans who should have much in common, even while the propaganda has played the major role. Too many will be full of a hardened attitude that is a result of that contempt and rage. Whatever actions they take from that head and soul space will reflect on us all.

The contempt is a two-way street too. Our change won't necessarily improve any given Trump voter's behavior or words. But it won't exacerbate the problem.

Timothy Snyder says in a video introduction to the chapter " target="_blank">Lesson 12: Make Eye-Contact and Small Talk in On Tyranny that among other things, doing so can break down social barriers and show you who you should and should not trust. It helps you be alert to your surroundings.


Remember those who confronted Trump's people out in public and spat on them or otherwise harassed them in restaurants and elsewhere? Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Betsy DeVos, others. We have some self-examination to do. It's human nature to downplay what we do, trying to justify it in our own minds. But without owning our own shadow, we can't play a healing role that we must to save our democracy.

The Golden Rule is powerful in helping derail the vicious circle we have going. Doing unto others as we would hope and want them to do unto us can be transformative. That's active, going out and being the person showing kindness first, rather than just refraining from doing things we don't want others to do to us.

Lots to do, and each of us is needed in the work.

[Linda ladeewolf]

71. I've expressed this

Point of view many times on other platforms. I usually get put down for it. We have to remember that whatever we feel, they feel also. They express contempt for intellectuals, books, anything like that. There are a lot of people among the maga that have high school and not much else. There are many well educated farmers though. Just not in economics and how governments work. They all went to different schools and emphasis is placed on different areas of learning in every part of the country. It seems most is based on what the local businesses need, not what the nation needs. I noticed a difference between states after moving to California for 16 years and the moving back to Missouri, it was culture shock. We have to learn to curb our personal opinions or fail. You can’t convince someone, who, you have contempt for of anything, even if it’s for their benefit. Contempt shows through, no matter what you do. Democrats have sympathy for people in the inner cities, but I believe there is just a bit of contempt there too. That’s why we lost many of them, the same thing applies to the rural populations, the different ethnicities. It would be hard to put this all together, but we must do it, in time for 2026. We have to truly recognize the weaknesses in the Democratic Party and fix it, or trump and people like him are the future.

[summer_in_TX]

72. Yes, and we also make assumptions about who they are.

We rarely if ever check our assumptions.

One is that only poorly educated people voted for Trump. Many well-educated did as well. Both my college-educated sons did. Sadly. They both are distrust mainstream sources of information so are vulnerable to disinformation.

[Farmer-Rick]

29. This is the most important paragraph of the whole article

"Before Eastern Europe became a laboratory for illiberalism in the 2010s, Western economists used it as a laboratory for neoliberalism in the 1990s. This shock therapy experiment alienated masses of lower-middle- and working-class citizens from the parties of the center-left, who often championed these policies. Similar tectonic shifts have undermined the Democrats’ support among working-class Americans."

Neoliberal economics better known as "free" trade or trickle down economics is why the working class has abandoned mainstream Democrats. The free trade frenzy was soon followed by bail outs for banks and austerity for the working class.

If you look at neoliberal economics you would wonder why any self respecting liberal would support such a huge abandonment of working people.

As a Democrat, I always thought our party's support of "free" trade would hurt us. Clinton's NAFTA support and Obama's bailouts for the billionaires but not workers are what MAGAts member. They don't remember Raygun killing unions, stopping monopoly enforcement and the deregulation frenzy of the GOP. Which is what led to all the media being owned by the filthy-rich right wingers.

Both parties should be held responsible for the awful neoliberal policies of the last 35 years. But Clinton was the face of the end to Glass Stegall and supporting NAFTA, and Obama was the face of bailouts for banks and bankruptcy and austerity for workers. Democrats are given most of the blame because workers felt that despite supporting Dems, they weren't defended by Dems.

Though the right wing brought workers the loss of jobs, the left wing went along too. In worker's eyes Dems did nothing to really correct the continued wealth extraction caused by free trade agreements and deregulation.Though some like Bernie and Elizabeth Warren have very rarely supported neoliberal economics.

Knowing this, Dems need to go all out to end ever last neoliberal economics policy since Raygun.

[poli-junkie]

46. Yes, trickle down economics has

morphed into fascism. Wages have been flat for 45 years and voters blame whoever’s in power and vote them out.

[Wild blueberry]

30. Whole article excellent

Thank you.
Have bookmarked. Our rural county Dems are doing this year-round work, little by little.

[HUAJIAO]

32. These assholes should NOT be called 'populists!"

[Zambero]

62. Astroturf Assholes

Faux populism seeks to deceive unwittingly enablers, in order to enact an autocratic agenda that widens the gap between oligarchs and everyone else.

[Beartracks]

33. "the consent of the ruled"

Democracies require the consent of the governed. But for quite a number of years now the Republicans haven't been interested in governing, they are interested in ruling. So this phrasing as it pertains to the acquiescence of the masses under a Republican autocracy is, sadly, accurate.

==================

[Martin Eden]

34. Booking for later, n/t

[TRHST82]

36. "Economic anxiety" and backlash to neoliberalism is only a small part of it.

It's much more about lackluster education, mental illness, narcissism and cruelty.

[yellow dahlia]

37. Trying to figure out how to do my part to protect our institutions.

If I can get involved in spreading the word and the facts, to protect our Democracy, I will do so.

I am glad to read all the input from others.

[yellow dahlia]

38. Thank you for posting.

[Yavin4]

43. We've had authoritarian fascism here in the US before.

Most recently, the Jim Crow South.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

45. The oligarchs believe they no longer have to be stealthy about their takeover.

It has been incremental and stealthy since 1974, but they believe their takeover will be complete this time.

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/meet-the-economist-behind-the-one-percents-stealth-takeover-of-america

[Pinback]

65. Thank you.

Nancy MacLean’s excellent book Democracy In Chains lays it out in detail. It’s as relevant today as when it was published, and a must read for anybody wanting to understand the long game of the the Right that led to this sorry spot in American history where we find ourselves.

[ThoughtCriminal]

47. Orban is to Trump

like Mussolini was for Hitler. The latter learned from the former.

[wendyb-NC]

48. Thank you, bookmarking to read and refer back to.

[Initech]

49. This brand of fascism is a cancer. It is destroying democracies left and right.

It destroyed Argentina, it destroyed Hungary. It is going to destroy the US and maybe Canada too. Until the king fascist - Vladimir Putin - and his evil goons rid the world of their evil existence, it may get worse.

[LymphocyteLover]

55. excellent piece with a lot of good advice

[Wavelight]

59. Translation

We’re fu*#ed!

[KPN]

63. Great article! The links provided in the article lead to several other great articles.

We Democrats definitely -- generally and as a whole -- are at a disadvantage when it comes to influencing people ... because we believe so strongly in reason over manipulation and deceit. Our strength is our weakness and we need to come to grips with that.

ps -- not saying we need to deceive or manipulate.

[andym]

64. Article describes how right wing populists unify a group of billionaires and workers. Many are not drawn by racism

"Economic nationalist narratives used by right-wing populists glorify “makers” over “takers,” resonating with working-class voters who value hard work. This narrative also serves to cement an alliance between plutocrats, billionaires and workers, which might seem paradoxical, but it isn’t: They are all portrayed as hard-working value creators as opposed to “lazy bureaucrats” and “benefit scroungers.”

At their core, some of these narratives are centered on racist or nativist ideas, but they are cushioned in several outer layers that are primarily economic — and it’s the economic messages that many who hear them react to.

That’s why labeling Trump and Orbán and their supporters as moral degenerates, or even Nazis, is tactically dysfunctional. Some of their voters are hardcore racists, but many aren’t. In fact, one of the often-neglected powers of successful radical right populists is their capacity to bring together a broad group of disillusioned voters.

Conservatives and nationalists with cultural grievances respond to the anti-migrant and anti-identity political messages. Economic nationalist messages resonate with those harboring economic frustrations over increased social insecurities and stagnating living standards."

[andym]

70. It was not an accident that Trump mentioned the visit from Orban to Mar A Lago at the debate

Trump is proud to associate with the man he seeks to emulate.