I’m just beginning to understand the far right world views that have overtaken democracy in countries like Hungary. With Victor Orban being the hero of Donald Trump, JD Vance and Tucker Carlson, what are the strands of thought that make these folk want to leave democracy behind and impose reactionary policies which take us back to the 50s or beyond?
Orban’s policies are
1. anti-immigation. He wants to keep Hungarians white
2. anti-woke, wanting to push back against gay marriage, trans rights – even women’s rights
3. natalist, meaning they want women, especially white women to have lots of babies to prevent the Great Replacement Theory from happening when immigrants of colour replace the people who consider themselves superior
4. isolationist meaning wary of things like Nato and free trade
5. Christianity or the veneer of it
6. antidemocracy, using gerrymandering to make sure the conservative party wins
7. antisemitism could be part of the mix considering Orban’s battle with George Soros or is it just a basic level of everyday racism?
8. anti press freedom
The really funny thing about the far right in Hungary is that it’s not like the right in America (or even here) which wants small government, a neoliberalist trickle down economic theory, tax cuts for the wealthy and an end to regulations, including those which counter climate change.
Orbanism seems to require a big government, giving financial incentives to families who have lots of children and helping them into houses. There’s even state support for seven-seat vehicles.
This sort of natalist thinking is creeping into Fox News though, with Jesse Waters telling women to go and have more babies and Fox News gleeful about abortion bans.
JD Vance has obviously gone this way with interviews in the last few years showing he is against “childless cat ladies” and agrees the role of post-menopausal women is to look after the grandchildren.
He thinks that childless people should have less voting power. He thinks there should be a federal ban on women travelling out of state to have abortions.
He seems to be voicing objections to neoliberalism by saying that allowing his mother in law to give up her job to look after his son as the most transgressional thing he has done against neoliberal values.
I cringe to think that the US is one election and one 80 year old man’s potential health crisis away from JD Vance becoming the US president.
While I was writing this I had one ear open to a Christine Amampour & Co interview in which a scholar called Robert Pape said most of the Jan 6 rioters who broke into the Capitol were motivated by the great replacement theory mentioned above. A decline in the non-Hispanic white population in their county was the biggest risk factor in sending rioters to the Capitol.
In 2014, Orban declared triumphantly that Hungary was now an illiberal democracy. If that sounds like an oxymoron it probably is because gerrymandering has meant that Orban’s Fidesz Party has gained a number of seats disproportionate to its share of the vote.
While Trump is a former president trying to become one again, he has actively supported Orban, inviting him to Mar-a-lago and praising him for his strongman tactics.
It’s worth remembering that there is a genuine cause for concern that women in countries like Japan, South Korea and Hungary are not having the average of 2.1 babies to maintain the population.
From what I have read, incentivising women to make more babies is too complex to solve with a 7 seater van.
There are more people on this planet than we can cope with. Maybe the dreaded immigration is the answer.
Sources: I read widely about this topic mainly the New Yorker, NYT and Guardian but didn’t take note of them. This is my first rodeo! But here are links to a couple of articles recommended by Co-pilot.
Hungary tries for baby boom with tax breaks and loan forgiveness (bbc.com)
The populist right wants you to make more babies. The question is how – POLITICO