Hungary's Viktor Orbán is providing the world with a particularly stark example of how a populist leader with authoritarian tendencies can lead a modern bureaucratic state away from openness, free discourse and the checks and balances of civil society.
Orbán, who praises “ethnic homogeneity,” is seeking to shut down Budapest’s highly regarded Central European University.
This really is one of those “which side are you on?” signifiers. Do you support liberal democracy or the illiberal state? In the name of security and identity, should America become more like Russia and Turkey? (They are democracies, after all!)
This is where all the Nazi talk in recent years from both the Left and the Right is revealed as stupid and distracting. If you believe in plurality, openness and accountability, a free press, research independence and government checks on oligarchy… then a slide toward Viktor Orbán’s Hungary is what you should fear.
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