The Axis of Autocracy Loses a Wheel

Hungarians stand up for democracy

After Victor Orbán’s Fidesz party took power in 2010, Hungary became a role model for those who admired corruption, fascism, and loyalty to Vladimir Putin. Orbán’s regime brought widespread crony capitalism, captured Hungarian media outlets, and installed corrupt judges. He actively undermined solidarity within the European Union and worked to block aid to Ukraine. Sound familiar?

The U.S. right loved it. In Trumpworld Orbán’s corruption and crony capitalism were features, not bugs. Even more important, Orbán implemented what he himself called “illiberal democracy,” with emphasis on the “illiberal” part, not the democracy. The Orbanist regime was racist, anti-immigrant, homophobic, opposed to free speech and thought. In other words, it was MAGA’s kind of government.

As a result, Orbán has been the darling of MAGA for many years. He was a star speaker at meetings of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the venue for showcasing movers and shakers on the hard right, receiving standing ovations for his polemics against liberal democracy. In his 2025 CPAC speech, Orbán styled Trump as a “truth serum”, claiming that “It is necessary to dismantle the American and Brussels liberal conspiracy, the transatlantic deep state.”

And while Orbán didn’t manage to end elections in Hungary — probably because Hungary remains highly dependent on aid from the European Union — he tried hard to lock in one-party rule. His party largely killed the free press, making sure that its allies controlled the media. It rigged the electoral system in ways that would allow it to stay in power unless there was a landslide vote for opposition parties. Again, it did what MAGA is trying to do in America.

But despite (or perhaps partly because of) JD Vance’s unprecedented campaigning for Orbán, he was, in fact, handed a landslide defeat by the Hungarian people. And to his credit, Orbán did what Trump never has: he conceded defeat.

Sunday’s stunning victory by Peter Magyar partly reflected economic discontent. When Orbán took power, Hungary was roughly as rich as Poland and substantially richer than Romania. Since then Poland has pulled far ahead while Romania has caught up:

But Hungarians were voting much more than their wallets. The election campaign was marked by huge, inspiring rallies:

Source: AP

This was a nation aroused, a nation disgusted, a nation that wanted the crooks out of power. And now they are.

Sunday’s election was, above all, a giant victory for the people of Hungary. But it was also a victory for defenders of freedom and democracy everywhere.

I wrote recently about what I called the Axis of Autocracy, a very real anti-democracy alliance that included Vladimir Putin, the Orbán regime, right-wing parties like Germany’s neo-Nazi AfD, and, of course, the Trump administration. Now the Axis has lost a wheel.

The international ramifications will be huge. Among other things, Orbán was an enthusiastic Putin lackey, doing all he could to sabotage European aid to Ukraine. Peter Magyar, who declared in his victory speech that “our country’s place is in Europe,” will presumably end the obstructionism.

And we’ve had yet another confirmation that Trump is Midas in reverse: Everything he touches turns to, well, something other than gold. Hungarians weren’t swayed to Orbán’s side by the efforts of Trump and Vance; if anything, Magyar, like Canada’s Mark Carney, probably benefited from his opponent’s association with MAGA.

There will be much more to say as the news from Hungary sinks in. Later this week I’ll talk with my old friend Prof. Kim Lane Scheppele of Princeton, who’s been on the Hungary case since the beginning.

For now, raise a glass of tokaji to the people of Hungary, who stood up for freedom and justice.

NONMUSICAL CODA