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A Broad Coalition Can Defeat Right Wing Extremism

To the Editor:



As advocates of democracy celebrate the victory of Peter Magyar and TISZA, American right wing populists are spinning the defeat of their “illiberal” icon Viktor Orban as Hungarian support for “Orbanism without Orban.” This misrepresentation attempts to pave the way for perpetuating Republicans’ Project 2025 without Donald Trump. That is, for cementing American authoritarianism at home and aligning American foreign policy with Russian Federation geopolitical and financial interests (as currently in Ukraine and Iran).



Before Tucker Carlson and CPAC promoted Orban as our kind of autocrat, KKK Grand Wizard and GOP gadfly David Duke sold Republicans on Vladimir Putin as the Great White Hope of Christian Nationalism. Understanding voting as a joint exercise in taking power, antidemocratic populists and plutocrats united at the ballot box to remake their party and our government in the image of their idols — Putin, Orban, and Donald Trump.



For Americans who oppose our Republican regime, the lessons of Hungary’s 2026 national election are that significant voter turnout can overcome systemic voter suppression and voting can change things for the better. As we struggle to preserve our secular government, shared civil rights, and historic alliances, Hungarians are readying to root out government corruption, restore an independent judiciary, and rebuild ties to the EU and NATO. TISZA’s win shows that Progressive, Liberal, and center Left voters uniting within a broad coalition can defeat right wing extremism.



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