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President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Mark Wilson/Getty Images Gbor Scheiring, Harvard University

Hungarian leader and strongman Viktor Orbn, who presided over the radical decline of democracy in his country, is scheduled to meet with former President Donald Trump, now the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort on March 8, 2024.

Orbn has been Hungarys prime minister since 2010. Under his leadership, the country became the first nondemocracy in the European Union an illiberal state, as Orbn proudly declared. Trump expressed his admiration for Orbn and his authoritarian moves during their meeting at the White House in 2019.

Youre respected all over Europe. Probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but thats OK, Trump said. Youve done a good job and youve kept your country safe.

Ive followed their mutual romance with illiberalism for a long time. Although I am now in the U.S. as an academic, I was elected to the Hungarian Parliament in 2010 when Orbns rule started.

As the U.S. braces for a potential second Trump presidency, Americans may rightly wonder: Would Trumps America mirror Orbns Hungary in its slide toward authoritarianism?

I can still feel the pleasant spring breeze on my skin as I walked up the National Assemblys stairs in my freshly bought suit. As newly elected members of Parliament, my Green Party colleagues and I stepped into our roles with high hopes and detailed plans to fix Hungarys ailing economy and move toward sustainability.

I also remember the cold winter day a year and half later when we chained ourselves to the parliament building. It was a demonstration against the hollowing of parliamentary work and democratic backsliding under Orbns rule.

If the parliament is the political home of democracy, Hungarys was vacant by 2012.

Orbn and his party in power hijacked democratic institutions. The nationwide right-wing media network is a crucial component of this authoritarian power. As the Voice of America reported in 2022, Orbns allies have created a pervasive conservative media ecosystem that dominates the airwaves and generally echoes the positions of the Orbn government.

His government gerrymandered local districts and allowed voters to register outside their home districts, both aimed at favoring Orbn and his party. The government also staffed the public prosecutors office with loyalists, ensuring that any misconduct by those in power stays hidden.

Republicans in the U.S. have followed a similar trajectory with their support of Trump as his rhetoric grows more authoritarian. Trump says if he wins the election, he wants to be a dictator for one day. A recent poll shows that 74% of Republicans surveyed said it would be a good idea for Trump to be a dictator only on the first day of his second term.

Orbn has spent years undermining the independence of Hungarys judiciary, ensuring its rulings are friendly to his government and allies. While still an independent institution, the U.S. Supreme Court with three Trump-nominated justices has become a pillar of Trumpism, handing down rulings overturning the constitutional right to abortion and limiting civil rights.

Fox, OANN, and other right-wing media ensure that large parts of America see the world through a Trumpian lens.

Authoritarian populists tilt the democratic playing field to favor themselves and their personal and political interests. Subverting democracy from the inside without violent repression allows leaders like Orbn and Trump to pretend they are democratic. This authoritarianism from within creates chokepoints, where the opposition isnt crushed, but it has a hard time breathing.

How can strongmen get away with these antidemocratic politics? If there is one lesson from Hungary, it is this: Democracy is not sustainable in a divided society where many are left behind economically.

The real power of authoritarian populists like Trump and Orban lies not in the institutions they hijack but in the novel electoral support coalition they create.

They bring together two types of supporters. Some hardcore, authoritarian-right voters are motivated by bigotry and hatred rooted in their fear of globalizations cultural threats. However, the most successful right-wing populist forces integrate an outer layer of primarily working-class voters hurt by globalizations economic threats.

Throughout the 20th century, Democrats in the U.S. and left-of-center parties in Europe provided a political home for those fearing economic insecurity. This fostered a political system that engendered equality and a healthy social fabric, giving people reason to care for liberal democratic institutions.

However, when the economy fails to deliver, disillusionment with capitalism morphs into an apathy toward liberal democracy.

If the liberal center appears uncaring, authoritarian populists can mobilize voters against both the cultural and economic threats posed by globalization.

In Hungary, the first signs of authoritarianism appeared in economically left-behind rural areas and provincial small and medium towns well before Orbns 2010 victory. While these provincial towns suffered from increasing mortality, deindustrialization and income loss, the parties of the liberal center continued to sing hymns about the benefits of globalization, detached from the everyday experience of economic insecurity.

As I showed in my book, neglecting this suffering was the democratic centers politically lethal failure.

By today, Hungarys liberal and left-of-center parties have retreated to the biggest cities, leaving their former provincial political strongholds up for grabs for the radical right. The same is taking place in the U.S., with the Republicans becoming a party of the working class and nonmetropolitan America.

The success of authoritarian populism in Hungary might seem disheartening. However, there is a silver lining: Those committed to democracy in the U.S. still have time to learn from Hungarys mistakes.

Gbor Scheiring, Fellow, Harvard University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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I watched Hungary's democracy dissolve into authoritarianism as a member of parliament and I see troubling ... - PennLive

Britain will sanction individuals whom it alleges are involved in Chinese backed-disruption of the democratic process on Monday.

Ministers will step up pressure on China tomorrow when they set out further details of the attack on the Electoral Commission and 43 individuals, including MPs and peers.

The Politics at Jack and Sam's podcast reveals this will include sanctioning individuals connected with the alleged efforts.

Listen above then tap here to follow Politics at Jack at Sam's wherever you get your podcasts

The UK will tighten its espionage rules at the same time, with the Investigatory Powers Bill in the Commons on Monday as well.

This is one of a number of increased threats to UK and global security discussed in the podcast.

Read more: China 'trying to undermine democracy', senior MP warns

Meanwhile, Whitehall is also coming to terms with the implications of Friday night's Moscow attack.

President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine for the murder of dozens of Moscovites, in a move that could mark the beginning of a fresh escalation in the conflict.

The podcast also reveals how a former senior civil servant has written a novel detailing how Whitehall deals with security threats and funding the security services.

Sky News has approached the Chinese embassy for comment.

Email with your thoughts and rate how their predictions play out: jackandsam@sky.uk or jackandsam@politico.co.uk

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More UK sanctions expected over China democracy and security fears - Yahoo News UK

From: Larry Shade

Columbus

I have written many articles these past few years to educate and inform the public on the disruption of Americas unity. Our founding fathers in writing the Constitution insisted that Congress be their top priority. So Article One laid out the rules and duties that Congress must follow. Article Two was written to address the executive branch. It stated the job requirements and the specifics of the job. They put the executive branch beneath the Congress because they feared the threat that one time in the future a president may try to seize too much power. The founders had seen the effect of too much power where a king in Europe had control of all facets of the government.

But in recent years, our country has fallen into the trap and has been reducing the power of the Congress as the presidents have been allowed to seize more power. This change has allowed partisan politics to enter the fray and have a big influence on the president. Thus, the direction of the government may move in a way that does not benefit the majority. It is vital for our democracy that our two independent political parties be maintained. That is the only way the country can hear all sides of the issue being debated.

I am retired and I go to Florida for a few months in the winter. While there, I have had many conversations with some Canadians and Europeans. They are very knowledgeable on the happenings going on in America. But they cannot understand why the people in America continue to go down this path of self-destruction. I have no answer. All I can say is that America has lost its moral compass, and I dont know if we can get it back.

I am a veteran who served in Vietnam. Watching the extreme political divide in the country with no ending in sight is very disheartening. But I have said for years that when Americans go to the polls to vote, they are the least educated in relation to all the other democracies around the world. A country filled with people who dont know what their government is doing, and have little desire to learn, is in danger of losing their country. My views have company. Several American historians who have studied the entire history of America are saying that America is closer to losing its democracy than at any time since the Civil War!

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Letter: America is at a crossroads, at risk of losing democracy - The Republic

Democracy is easy to take for granted because we have always had it. But democracy in Iowa is weak and our freedoms are being chipped away by a very partisan government in Des Moines.

If democracy were strong, we would not pass:

A law to ban books, reminiscent of Hitlers Germany.

A law to limit teachers free speech when students confide in them.

A law to attack minorities instead of teaching a little humanity.

A child labor law allowing children to be more easily abused.

A bill to restrict a womans reproductive freedom and freedom for a doctor to practice, leaving everyone to equate pregnancy with death.

Freedom of religion took a hit when the state legislature in Des Moines broke the unwritten law of separation of church and state by passing a law giving government the power to take tax dollars levied for public schools and redirecting those dollars to church schools. Freedom of religion means no government intervention, and preventing that intervention is why tax exemption for church property has existed for nearly 200 years.

Poor laws like the above should not stand, especially in Iowa that was long known for common sense.

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Letter: Democracy is weak in Iowa due to partisan state politics - The Dispatch Argus

* The list of challenges troubling the U.S. society is ever-growing, making the narrative of American democracy even less convincing.

* The lack of discussion of solutions to existing global crises, such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, climate change and poverty, shows that the conference was just a platform for confrontation led by the United States.

* The essence of the Washington-sponsored summit is to weaponize democracy, foment division and safeguard its hegemony.

SEOUL, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The third so-called "Summit for Democracy" quietly ended here Wednesday. Unlike the previous two summits hosted or co-hosted by Washington, this year's event was outsourced to South Korea. Nevertheless, its fundamental nature as an ideological tool for confrontation remained unchanged.

Despite Washington's vigorous promotion, the previous two summits did not achieve any tangible results. The third edition did not focus on real crises in Ukraine and Gaza either. As the sponsor, Washington had one intention with the summit: to suppress other countries and divide the world in the name of democracy.

MUCH-CRITICIZED SPONSOR

Portraying itself as a "Beacon of Democracy," the United States frequently bloviates about democracy, yet the so-called beacon is getting dimmer. Facing various human rights woes at home, more U.S. citizens are losing faith in American democracy.

A Pew Center poll shows that 65 percent of Americans believe the U.S. democratic system needs major reforms, and 57 percent of respondents believe the United States is "no longer a model of democracy."

From aggravated political polarization and widening wealth disparity, to growing social divides and deep-seated racial discrimination, the list of challenges troubling the U.S. society is ever-growing, making the narrative of American democracy even less convincing.

Meanwhile, the American political landscape is riddled with systemic flaws, including rampant voter suppression, gerrymandering and outsized influence of corporate interests in electoral politics. These shortcomings have eroded public trust in the democratic process and undermined the legitimacy of American governance.

Failing to solve problems at home, the United States has waged wars around the world and imposed sanctions on other countries in recent decades, causing large-scale humanitarian catastrophes.

Since 2001, wars and military operations launched by the United States in the name of counter-terrorism have killed more than 900,000 people, of which about 335,000 were civilians. Sovereign countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya have suffered numerous disasters due to U.S. invasion and proxy wars.

For long, the United States and other Western countries have interfered in many countries and regions under the banner of "democracy" and "human rights," said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar.

The United States weaponizes the concept of "democracy," and its summits could hardly convince the public of what Washington preaches, Adhere added.

ABSENT-MINDED GATHERING

Over the years, the so-called democracy summits have been dogged by criticism from rights activists, who question whether these gatherings can push the participants to take meaningful action, Reuters reported Monday.

Last year's summit made the Ukraine-Russia conflict a topic of discussion but didn't come up with any constructive solution. Presently, the Ukraine crisis has hit a two-year mark, and the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza conflict has surpassed 30,000.

Ignoring the fact the two ongoing conflicts are causing humanitarian catastrophes, the United States has continued to fund the protracted conflict in Ukraine, and blocked UN Security Council draft resolutions for a ceasefire in Gaza multiple times.

However, participants did not seriously discuss these burning issues during the three-day summit, and the chair's summary of the summit, published Thursday, did not mention them either.

Kwon Ki-sik, head of the Korea-China City Friendship Association, criticized the summit for being an empty gathering that ignored the global crises at hand. The lack of discussion of solutions to existing global crises, such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, climate change and poverty, shows that the conference was just a platform for confrontation led by the United States.

For South Korea, the summit is more of a political demonstration of its international standing. According to the president's office of South Korea, the country has once again demonstrated its position and contribution to the world, creating an opportunity to consolidate the leadership of a "global hub country."

However, given the "regressing political situation" in South Korea, the government's boast of "our democratic leadership" will leave most citizens disappointed, South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun said recently in an editorial.

DEMOCRACY WEAPONIZED

Since the end of the Cold War, the world has seen growing support for multilateralism. Washington, however, has stubbornly pursued global dominance in disregard of this evolving landscape.

The essence of the Washington-sponsored summit is to weaponize democracy, foment division and safeguard its hegemony.

In East Asia, the United States is seeking to build an alliance with Japan and South Korea to contain China and Russia and create a "new Cold War" by putting the "democracy summit" in South Korea, said Lee Jang-hie, emeritus professor at law school of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

Washington's bid to rally some countries against others, which has further entrenched ideological divisions, undermines efforts to foster genuine dialogue and cooperation among nations with different political systems.

Kwon said the "democracy summit" is being criticized as a divisive international conference to build a hegemonic international order with the United States at the center. "The U.S. hegemonic action of weakening the function of the UN and leading a so-called 'democracy summit' is a hindrance to world peace."

"By weaponizing democracy as a political tool," said commentator Yirenkyi Jesse in an op-ed in The Standard, a leading daily newspaper in Kenya, "the United States seeks to assert its hegemonic dominance, dividing the world along arbitrary lines and sowing discord in its wake." (Video reporters: Chen Yi, Jin Haomin, Yang Chang; video editors: Zheng Xin, Li Qin, Lin Lin, Liu Xiaorui)

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Xinhua Headlines: Why U.S.-backed "Summit for Democracy" only triggers division, confrontation - Xinhua