The

The Hello and welcome to behind the news. My name is Doug Hinwood, a slight departure from mandated norms,

two guests but one subject, the recent election in Hungary, which brought down their odious

long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban. We'll hear from Kyle Chibonko, a historian who specializes

in Hungary, and Danita Georgian, a Budapest-based independent scholar. On April 12th, Hungary held parliamentary elections. The

headline result was a crushing defeat on strong turnout for their autocratic Prime Minister

Victor Orban. This is a defeat not only for Orban, but for the global right, for whom he has been

a crucial figure. Orban has dominated Hungarian politics for a long time. He was prime minister from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2010 until now, a total of 20 years in office.

He spent that time constructing what he called in a 2014 speech in a liberal state,

and in that he became a hero to politicians like Trump and Vance and to pundits like Tucker Carlson.

Soon after taking office in 1998, Orban moved to restrict the Parliament's power and fill

government posts with loyalists. He did take some populist moves like abolishing university tuition

fees and boosting maternity benefits, but that was not enough to prevent a loss in 2002,

and Orban was reduced to the status of

mere leader of the opposition. After eight years in the wilderness, he crept back into power in 2010,

and immediately proceeded to rewrite the Constitution secretly and with minimal public debate.

He turned to a strong anti-immigrant anti-EU stance, which became the core of his politics, along with

the vicious social conservatism. He also drew closer to Russia and developed a deep alliance with Israel.

Exhausted by the repression and deep corruption of Orban's regime, he and his party were crushed

in Sunday's election, winning just 38% of the popular vote and well under a third of the seats in

Parliament. Amusingly, a promotional visit just before the election by J.D. Vance seems actually to have

caused Orban votes. J.D.'s touch looks not to be magic. Also of no help was Trump's endorsement.

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