And, like in Russia, the commercial media has been almost entirely taken over by Hungarian oligarchs made rich by sweetheart government deals: almost every radio and TV station in Hungary today is broadcasting the Hungarian equivalent of Fox "News," all deifying Orba'n and his billionaire buddies who run the country.
Education is similarly under the control of the Russian and Hungarian governments. Any professor in Russia who dares discuss politics, race, or queer issues will find himself shipped off to a prison camp. In Budapest, the progressive Christian Central European University fled Hungary in the face of growing threats of violence against progressive religious organizations, a ban on classes, and the tight embrace of rightwing churches by the government. Its rector, Michael Ignatieff, said:
"There's just no doubt but that this is organized as a way of saying that 'Christianity' means 'white conservative Europe'. It's a trope. Say the world 'Christian' and it says everything else that you want to say."
Thus, it surprised nobody when wannabee fascist strongman Ron DeSantis seized control of Florida's flagship liberal arts school, the New College, and replaced a third of its staff, rewrote its classes to eliminate references to African-American history or white race-based crimes, and packed the incoming student body with people on athletic scholarships.
These are also examples of ways Republicans are trying to destroy the infrastructure of democracy here.
Which is why just keeping an insurrection-supporting traitor like Jim Jordan out of the House speakership isn't going to save American democracy.
While it's important to keep toxic politicians out of office or positions of power, without elections that are not gerrymandered and thus truly reflect the will of the voters; politically independent media; and a vibrant university system to educate the next generation of American leaders, we're inexorably heading down the path that Russia and Hungary have trod.
And it's not like Republicans and their wealthy colleagues are trying to hide it.
When Orba'n hosted the CPAC Republican fascist-fest this May in Budapest, the Hungarian "soft fascism" strongman president told the audience, to a standing ovation:
"Hungary is actually an incubator where experiments are done on the future of conservative policies. Hungary is the place where we didn't just talk about defeating the progressives and liberals and causing a conservative Christian political turn, but we actually did it."
The key, Orba'n told his American fascist fanboys, was for the government and the party's billionaires to take control of the media using the same strategy he and Putin used to hand most industrial and media operations to their favored oligarchs.
Orba'n has handed government contracts to his favored few, elevating an entire group of pro-Orba'n businessmen (it appears all are men) who have now seized almost complete control of that nation's economy. Those who opposed him have lost their businesses, been forced to sell their companies, and often fled the country.
This is why virtually all of Hungary's press is now in the hands of oligarchs and corporations loyal to Orba'n, with hard-right talk radio and television across the country singing his praises daily. Progressive media is functionally banned. Billboards and social media proclaim Orba'n's patriotism everywhere.
He told the American CPAC conference in Budapest last year they should do the same in America when Republicans next seize control of the US government:
"Have your own media," he said. "It's the only way to point out the insanity of the progressive left. The problem is that the western media is adjusted to the leftist viewpoint. Those who taught reporters in universities already had progressive leftist principles."
He added:
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