Why Donald Trump’s praise for Viktor Orbán should matter to you

As we comb through last night’s epic debate and check in with our pets, some inquiring minds are wondering: Who is Viktor Orbán, and why did Donald Trump speak so highly of him?

First, a fact-check: Kamala Harris was correct to say that most European leaders detest and mock Trump. And Trump was correct to say that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a prominent exception. The two have a bromance that mirrors the one between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But it may be even more consequential.

Whereas Putin is the self-made billionaire, bare-chested horseback rider, and global power broker whom Trump wants to be in his dreams, Orbán presents a more realistic role model. In fact, Trump’s Project 2025 playbook mirrors a lot of what Orbán already achieved in Hungary, turning a democracy into a soft authoritarian regime.

One of the most chilling parallels between Orbán and Trump has been their media policy.

Orbán began his political career in 1989 as a young anti-communist, pro-democracy activist. Like Trump, he switched sides and embraced the new populism. Orbán won a landslide election in 2010 after a previous government admitted to mismanaging the global financial crisis. His party controlled enough votes to change Hungary’s constitution, following a well-known authoritarian playbook: destroy Supreme Court oversight, capture the media, and take over the universities, all while denouncing refugees, attacking George Soros, supporting traditional family values, and hoping to expand Hungary’s territory at the expense of neighboring countries (including Ukraine).

» READ MORE: Elected leaders in Israel, Poland, and Hungary are following the ‘autocrat’s playbook’ | Trudy Rubin

Orbán’s constitutional reforms skewed Hungary’s voting system so badly that even if he eventually loses in some future landslide — he was elected to a fourth term in 2022 — his party will still control many levers of power for decades to come.

One of the most chilling parallels between Orbán and Trump has been their media policies. Orbán pioneered a silent and devastating approach to destroying independent media. He encouraged his rich oligarch allies to buy up media companies. And turn them into government mouthpieces. Or shut them down altogether.

Sound familiar?

Has anyone noticed how Elon Musk bought Twitter and turned it into an extreme X? While John Malone bought a seat on CNN’s board to change its editorial policy? That is literally the Orbán playbook. Eventually, once Orbán’s buddies bought up and destroyed Hungary’s independent media, he forced them to donate the media companies to a government-controlled foundation, so he never had to worry about the media ever again.

» READ MORE: Tucker Carlson and the American right are taking the wrong lessons from Hungary | Opinion

I was in Hungary during the 2022 election campaign, and all the billboards, television, and print media were solid Orbán. The opposition was free to speak, but only online.

Orbán targeted and shut down the Soros-funded Central European University, forcing it into exile in Vienna. Many of my colleagues there now commute. The people I know and have met in business can only function with the approval of Orbán’s party or an affiliated oligarch. In many cases, government-connected business people force competitors to sell out or face escalating government inspections and intimidation. Orbán controls everything. No one is killed, but those who do not cooperate are pushed to the exits.

New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat labeled Orbán and Trump one of a group of “strongmen” leaders seeking to subvert democracy. It was amusing to see Trump turn this around in the debate by calling Orbán a “strong man” while Harris labeled Trump as “weak.”

But word games aside, make no mistake. Trump’s Orbán comments signal that the authoritarian takeover in Project 2025 is real. Hungary’s Orbán already implemented it — and we know now that it cannot be easily undone once imposed.

Mitchell A. Orenstein is a professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. He lives in Philadelphia and is friendly with his neighbors’ pets.