When Peter Magyar defeated Viktor Orbán in Hungary last month, many hailed it as a sign that leaders of competitive autocracies can be defeated and cast out of office.
Magyar immediately began demanding the resignations of Fidesz-aligned judges, top officials, and media oligarchs aligned with the former autocrat. He also pledged to overhaul Hungary’s electoral law, aiming to dismantle the Fidesz-led “illiberal” framework and restore democratic checks and balances. He promised to create a new constitution, enforce a two-term limit for prime ministers, and restore media and academic freedom. Importantly, the new government also vowed to pursue justice against those who “plundered” the country for their own enrichment.
Some observers took Orbán’s defeat as a hopeful indication that the United States can also be repaired once a Democrat returns to the White House in 2029. In an interview that ran here in Public Notice, professor Kim Lane Scheppele highlighted how Magyar’s campaign could serve as a model for making corruption a major electoral issue in the US, as well as provide guidance for Democrats in terms of how they can engage with right-leaning voters in purple and red parts of the country.
It’s true that there are important lessons to be learned from how Maygar defeated Orbán at the ballot box. But the fact of the matter is that fixing Hungary is much easier than fixing the United States.
To the surprise of some, Orbán left office quietly, and his oligarch allies are already moving themselves and their ill-gotten assets out of the country. But in the United States, Trump his party are telegraphing they will use every means at their disposal to keep a Republican in office, regardless of how people vote. And as Public Notice has detailed, the regime has a frightening number of options with which to cling to power.
