Hanna Rosin: “Until the day they voted, many Hungarians found it hard to believe that Orbán would be ousted, despite what independent polls showed. Autocrats have a way of seeming inevitable. Nonetheless, Orbán lost to opposition leader Péter Magyar by too large a margin to paper over with propaganda. Magyar had appealed to the people directly, traveling the country, avoiding culture-war issues, and talking mostly about economic hardship. Orbán swiftly conceded, and overnight, Hungarians were dancing in the streets.”
“Whatever happens next in Hungary, Orbán’s downfall contains obvious warnings for MAGA and Trump: Propaganda has its limits. Concerns about affordability are real. True democracy can reassert itself in a single election. Reality can bend only so far.”
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