“The Model” For MAGA Statecraft May Be Crumbling
April 1, 2026
Digby's Hullabaloo
Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is a dark, repressive place. But Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation — the conservative think-tank that has given America, among other gifts, Project 2025 — has called it not just the “model for modern statecraft, but the model. Americans, Brits, Spaniards, Australians — everyone — can and should learn from it.” Those words may sound odd coming from a right-wing American activist, the type who would have previously heaped contempt on anyone who suggested that a country other than the United States is the model the world should follow.
But these are different times, and America’s right-wing intelligentsia has had a crush on Orbán for some time now. The question is whether the Hungarian people are as enamored as they are. For the first time in 16 years, Orbán is facing a tough reelection battle. Hungarians will go to the polls on April 12, and if the elections are fair and uncorrupted, it appears Orbán and his Hungarian Civil Union Party, known as Fidesz, will lose. Current polling averages show his chief rival, Péter Magyar of the Respect and Freedom Party, more commonly referred to as Tisza, with a healthy 15-point lead that has held for most of the past year. But in Hungary, which has been defined as an “electoral autocracy,” a manipulated electoral map coupled with Orbán’s years of corruption mean there is no guarantee that Magyar can pull off a victory, even with a commanding lead. Still, it’s the best chance in years to unseat the prime minister, as the widespread
Digby's Hullabaloo
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