Could 2024 be our Last Election?

This was a question I heard posed by a pundit last week. It made me stop and think. Could our democracy disappear so quickly? But, as I look back at the last election, I never thought that a defeated president would lead a mob to circumvent the will of the people and create false sets of electors. Never, in our 234 years of electoral politics, had a president not agreed to cede power; such a move was unthinkable. But we all saw it, didn't we? Several books written about the election noted that weeks before the voting even began, plans were in place to claim the election was stolen. Once the Maga team determined they might not win, their efforts became focused on denying the legitimacy of their rival's win, despite the overwhelming truth of both the electoral college count and the actual vote tally.

Their attempts to do this resulted in 60 court challenges, most of which failed, thousands of social media posts, and false claims from a noisy partisan faction. Fortunately, the country survived all of this and limped to Inauguration Day, where Joe Biden was sworn in as the new leader. We can expect a more knowledgeable attempt next time, as many of the same people who were involved in the schemes then (at least those who have not yet been arrested, charged, or convicted) continue to surround DJT.

His stump speeches recently are more erratic, wildly echoing those given by Hitler a century ago.  

The Biden campaign posted this on X recently:

Sorry couldn't get the graphic to load, but the words are correct

Concerned Americans need to speak up and condemn such speech. It is deliberate and stirs the worst feelings of the electorate. Democrats, Independents, and Republicans should speak up now and call out these hateful speeches for the divisive tactics they are. These words are against our stated American values. They are against the oaths we take to defend our country – all of our country, not just a few.

The New York Times has done a series of articles over the years about Viktor Orban and his authoritarian rule in Hungary. Tucker Carlson interviewed Orban and the Conservative Political Action Conference held a recent convention there.

Some of Orbans' remarks, at that event, as noted by NPR, are below:

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — "Hungary's populist prime minister likened liberalism to a "virus" in an opening speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the Hungarian capital on Thursday, painting a picture of a global right-wing movement mobilizing to defeat "progressive elites."

Viktor Orban's speech at CPAC Hungary  centered around battling what he frequently described as "woke culture," and delved primarily into hot-button cultural topics such as transgender and LGBTQ+ rights, migration and the content of education for children.

The two-day conference, the second in Hungary in as many years, featured segments titled "Make Kids Not War" and "No Country for Woke Men." A sign over the entrance to the venue, a conference hall on the Danube River, read, "No Woke Zone."

After receiving a standing ovation, Orban said Hungary had become "world-famous" for its hard-line migration and cultural policies, and offered those in attendance a recipe for implementing a similar right-wing agenda at home.

"No migration, no gender, no war," Orban said, urging his international audience to focus on these issues in their own countries.}"

But if you read what he has done since 2018, you will see the blueprint, I believe, for what DJT and his anti-democracy forces are planning to implement. Just as Orban is anti-immigrant, they are as well. Just as he initially won by portraying his enemies as corrupt and George Soros as directing evil forces against set government, the Maga groups are doing so too. If you read the articles I have linked and quoted from below, you can read the game plans. Why is DJT quoting Hitler? Because he is trying to build the need for a strong man–the "only I can save you" theory- just as Hitler and Orban promised. Besides being anti-immigrant, he has acted against the LBGTQ community and many of its members are leaving the country while they can do so. Can you see parallels with anti-gay and anti-trans campaigns here?

April 29 2018 Election in Hungary

Mr. Karacsony said that Mr. Orban had already largely "destroyed the constitutional order" and, in an interview before the election, he said he feared what an Orban victory would mean for the country.

Mr. Orban has cast himself as the only person capable of defending Hungary from threats seen and unseen. He has also tapped nationalistic sentiments by portraying officials in Brussels as meddling bureaucrats who are a threat to Hungary's sovereignty.

 

 

Another essay in the Times in 2018

The Russian invasion pushed to center stage the question of whether Hungary is leaning toward the East or the West and the question of how reliable the country is as a member of the European Union and NATO. Yet Mr. Orban refused to let the opposition's East vs. West narrative be seen by the whole of Hungarian society as a way of understanding the war issue. He instead transformed himself into a guarantor of peace and security, while accusing the opposition of trying to drag the country into war — a message trumpeted by public media, hundreds of pro-government media outlets and thousands of billboards across the country.

 

And on to his reelection in 2022, where he disallowed valid opponents, sent out false information, and won overwhelmingly.

March 31, 2022 -Budapest —" During the dark winter of the 2020 coronavirus wave, the Hungarian government set up a website so anxious residents could sign up for the news on the pandemic. For months, the system sent out updates about the virus, testing and where to get vaccinated.

But last month, long after the vaccination drive had peaked, the system blasted out a very different type of alert: an email claiming, falsely, that opponents of Prime Minister Viktor Orban were agitating to drag Hungary into the war in Ukraine.

"This is cheating," said Klara Dobrev, a Hungarian member of the European Parliament and one of those accused in the email. "Using public money for obviously party propaganda? This is obviously election fraud."

In more than a decade in power, Mr. Orban has not hesitated to use the levers of government power to erode democratic norms and cement one-party rule. He has rewritten the Constitution, remade the courts and used state-run and privately owned television stations — even school textbooks — to advance his agenda or push misinformation about his rivals.

He has always justified his brand of what he calls "illiberal democracy" by pointing out that, like other European leaders, he has won free and fair elections. Now, though, as he stands on Sunday for re-election against an unexpectedly organized opposition, Mr. Orban is using the power of his office to shape the contours of the election more to his liking."

 

Radio Free Europe also commented in a detailed article.

I've just quoted from the opening below.

 

"Hungary's opposition finally joined forces. But even a unified opposition proved little match for a champion of "illiberal" government sitting on three consecutive terms of total dominance since 2010.

In that time, Orban has rewritten the constitution and key aspects of electoral laws, and consolidated allies' control of nearly every major media outlet in the country.

By almost all accounts before the voting, the opposition was better organized than in any other elections of recent years.

Under the banner United For Hungary, it managed to pull off a primary last year that chose Peter Marki-Zay, a little-known mayor whose conservative roots helped deflect Orban's efforts at a culture war. But by election night, Marki-Zay was flanked only by his family delivering a concession speech.

There were no opposition allies in sight."

Just thought I'd share tonight. I would love to hear your thoughts. Free and fair elections are now endangered.

Til next week–Peace!