The Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, held its first Hungarian edition last week. Attendees were welcomed with an opening speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who instructed them on how the “international liberal left” was defeated.
Mr. Orban has received attention in the United States for promoting global culture wars — defending Christian civilization, ethnic purity and traditional gender roles against “woke” challenges.
But some of his advice at CPAC Hungary might have reflected his background as a lawyer: “Those who play by their opponents’ rules are certain to lose.” Indeed, since coming to power in 2010, Mr. Orban has written his own rules, promulgating a new Constitution and hundreds of new laws to lock in his gains.
The secret to Mr. Orban’s longevity in office has been using those rules in ways that go far beyond social-conservative culture. He has also deployed his own rules in the realm of material benefits. He has effectively used political payback to inflict economic pain on his opponents while bestowing financial benefits on loyalists.
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And it appears his American conservative admirers have taken notice. During Donald Trump’s presidency and in red states like Florida, political punishment has become a way of doing business.
Certain Republicans and Mr. Orban share political payback as a strategy of governing and a way for the state’s economic power to consolidate partisan political power. The rules are simple: Make your enemies pay; let your friends prosper.
We don’t know for sure whether one side influenced the other. But the connections between Mr. Orban and his Republican admirers are personal and have expanded in recent years. In 2010, Republican political consultants helped engineer Mr. Orban’s 2010 election victory, and they continued to assist Mr. Orban even while their team branched out to help organize the Trump 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump surrounded himself with Mr. Orban’s friends in Washington, such as Sebastian Gorka and Kurt Volker. The former president’s Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar attended conferences promoting social-conservative policy with Mr. Orban’s former Minister of Family Affairs Katalin Novak, recently inaugurated as the new president of Hungary.
In Hungary under Mr. Orban, political payback is common. Mr. Orban first targeted the independent and opposition media by directing state-funded advertising to pro-government outlets. He has used state regulatory power to shift business from unfriendly hands to friendly ones, starting with a law that required tobacco sellers to be licensed by the state. (Many of those licenses were awarded to government supporters.) With tobacco as a model, Mr. Orban opened similar efforts in the banking, energy and telecom sectors. Owners whose businesses failed to support the governing party have been sidelined, while party loyalists gained. When discontent with Mr. Orban overflowed and his party lost many of the country’s big cities in the 2019 local elections, he cut major sources of revenue for opposition cities so that their mayors would appear incompetent without resources.
Mr. Orban has received attention in the United States for promoting global culture wars — defending Christian civilization, ethnic purity and traditional gender roles against “woke” challenges.
But some of his advice at CPAC Hungary might have reflected his background as a lawyer: “Those who play by their opponents’ rules are certain to lose.” Indeed, since coming to power in 2010, Mr. Orban has written his own rules, promulgating a new Constitution and hundreds of new laws to lock in his gains.
The secret to Mr. Orban’s longevity in office has been using those rules in ways that go far beyond social-conservative culture. He has also deployed his own rules in the realm of material benefits. He has effectively used political payback to inflict economic pain on his opponents while bestowing financial benefits on loyalists.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
And it appears his American conservative admirers have taken notice. During Donald Trump’s presidency and in red states like Florida, political punishment has become a way of doing business.
Certain Republicans and Mr. Orban share political payback as a strategy of governing and a way for the state’s economic power to consolidate partisan political power. The rules are simple: Make your enemies pay; let your friends prosper.
We don’t know for sure whether one side influenced the other. But the connections between Mr. Orban and his Republican admirers are personal and have expanded in recent years. In 2010, Republican political consultants helped engineer Mr. Orban’s 2010 election victory, and they continued to assist Mr. Orban even while their team branched out to help organize the Trump 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump surrounded himself with Mr. Orban’s friends in Washington, such as Sebastian Gorka and Kurt Volker. The former president’s Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar attended conferences promoting social-conservative policy with Mr. Orban’s former Minister of Family Affairs Katalin Novak, recently inaugurated as the new president of Hungary.
In Hungary under Mr. Orban, political payback is common. Mr. Orban first targeted the independent and opposition media by directing state-funded advertising to pro-government outlets. He has used state regulatory power to shift business from unfriendly hands to friendly ones, starting with a law that required tobacco sellers to be licensed by the state. (Many of those licenses were awarded to government supporters.) With tobacco as a model, Mr. Orban opened similar efforts in the banking, energy and telecom sectors. Owners whose businesses failed to support the governing party have been sidelined, while party loyalists gained. When discontent with Mr. Orban overflowed and his party lost many of the country’s big cities in the 2019 local elections, he cut major sources of revenue for opposition cities so that their mayors would appear incompetent without resources.
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Viktor Orban of Hungary offers a model: Make your enemies pay; let your friends prosper.
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