In what appears to be a historic turnout, voters in Hungary ousted Viktor Orban!
This is great news for NATO and bad news for Trump and Putin, who lauded Orban as the future of Europe. MAGA loved Orban, who claimed to have created an “illiberal democracy.”
Orban was a European version of Trump, censoring or closing down anyone who disagreed with him. He harmed freedom of the press, universities, and the judiciary. He stridently opposed LGBT rights.
The victory of Peter Magyar, who seems to have won more than 2/3 of the seats in Parliament, means a new day for Hungary, NATO, and the European Union.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I read a report that suggested that the EU will now allow Hungarian assets held due to Orban policies to go to Hungary
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What business does the EU have holding Hungarian assets because they don’t like Hungary’s leader? What if Trump decides to hold New York assets because he doesn’t like their leader? What if other countries decide to hold U.S. assets because they don’t like Trump? BTW, the correct term for “holding assets” that belong to someone else is stealing.
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The historic part of this is the concession on the part of Orban. Do modern authoritarian rulers actually have to produce for the people they wish to dominate? Or is there another way to process what happened today? Is Hungary free of this Orban? Or will he return in some way? And what does Putin think?
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This is a major victory. JD Vance was just campaigning with Orban. Here in Sarasota, New College’s DeSantis appointed Board of Trustee, Chris Rufo, was a longtime fan and went to Hungary in 2023 to learn all about their “culture war policies.”
We are rejoicing greatly! This is fantastic news and brings us hope. Let’s keep the anti-fascist momentum growing and bring about a blue tidal wave in November.
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The trustees of New College must be in mourning.
Fascism is out of fashion.
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“TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE VOTING!!!” — That’s what Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban complained as he went down to defeat in Hungary’s elections, in spite of the unusual direct support he received in a visit by U.S. Vice President Vance and a public phone call from President Trump to a pro-Orban political rally crowd.
JUST THINK ABOUT THAT — “Too many people are voting” — and you understand why Trump and his MAGA Minions are working hard to disqualify as many American voters as they can. That’s because the more people who vote, the less likely MAGA candidates will be elected because MAGA is far less than the majority of Americans.
When the majority of Americans turn out to vote, MAGA loses.
So expect that Trump and his minions will be increasing their attempts to disqualify as many voters as possible between now and the November midterm elections, because if the majority of Americans can vote, Trump’s minions in Congress and in state governments will be kicked out of office.
IF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOES ANY ONE THING between now and November, it must be to defeat all MAGA efforts to disqualify Americans from voting BECAUSE THE KEY TO DEMOCRATS WINNING IS HIGH VOTER TURNOUT — and THAT’S why Republicans are trying every way they can to prevent voters from voting which means that YOU CAN COUNT ON ICE BEING AT OR NEAR POLLING PLACES to intimidate voters.
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JD Vance gives the Kiss of Death.
First to Pope Francis, now to Orban.
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Yeah, so this was a huge win in Hungary. I thought, I’d have to wait for the results for days, and even if the opposition (Tisza party) wins, Orbán will challenge it. But the win is completely overwhelming, and Tisza got well over 2/3 majority in Congress, which means they can roll back many of the changes Orbán made to the Constitution (gerrymandering, changes to the Supreme Court, etc.) to benefit his party. Orbán quickly, unceremoniously congratulated to Magyar, the opposition leader.
Many expected the small towns and villages will all vote for Orbán, but that was not the case at all.
To see the extent of the win, I show here the almost final election map. Blue is for Tisza, the opposition party (though it’s not a leftist party, at least not by European standards).
I hope for a similar color pattern here in the US in November. The above map is the result of Hungarians fighting back the influence of US and Russian administrations and propaganda, and Hungarians finally understood that they belong to Europe. Europe did cheer them on tonight.
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Mate,
I am so happy for Hungary and for Europe and for you! Now you can retire to Hungary knowing that it’s not slipping into Putin’s orbit.
Europe is united, and it will help Ukraine prevail over Russia.
How exciting to see your small nation rebuke both Trump and Putin.
Diane
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I know you are excited. Perhaps now the Hungarian march toward representation can be resumed, as can ours.
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Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, finally some good news. Thank goodness Orban did not resort to Putinistic methods, such as jailing or killing his political opponent.
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Roy,
I am not familiar with the issue so o asked Chat GPT:
Yes — the European Union has withheld (and in some cases frozen) significant funds from Hungary in recent years.
Why the EU withheld funds
The dispute centers on concerns about:
• Rule of law issues (judicial independence, corruption risks)
• Public procurement transparency
• Academic and media freedom
These concerns have been raised repeatedly about the government of Viktor Orbán.
What funds were affected
• Around €20+ billion in cohesion funds and COVID recovery money were blocked or suspended starting in 2022–2023.
• This included money from the EU’s pandemic recovery program (NextGenerationEU).
Has any money been released?
Yes, partially:
• In late 2023, the EU unlocked about €10 billion after Hungary passed some judicial reforms.
• However, billions remain frozen because the EU says reforms are still incomplete.
Why this matters
• The EU uses funding conditions as leverage to enforce its legal and democratic standards.
• Hungary argues the EU is applying political pressure, while the EU says it is enforcing agreed rules.
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Maybe, because as Europe watches how Trump had F***ED up the U.S., they’re, learning things, and they stopped having to make the mistakes themselves, to SAVE their individual countries from totalitarian rule whom they put into, office.
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