The problem with demagogues is that they invariably fall into infantile practices.  The politics of the playground is the politics of hate, violence and betrayal.  It’s the politics of finding the useful enemy and bullying the theme till it’s raw.  In Hungary’s parliamentary elections set for April 12, the only theme that seems to matter to the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) alliance and Viktor Orbán, the country’s demagogic leader of 16 years, is Ukraine.  

Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky have been pictured as symbolic occupiers, intruders and meddlers, intent on bringing in Hungary and the rest of the European Union into Kyiv’s resistance against Russia.  For his part, Orbán has been reproached by critics for having protean tendencies: once being a liberal voice seeking Hungary’s detachment from Moscow he became, in Jamie Dettmer’s words, “a self-styled champion of illiberalism – and the Kremlin’s best friend in Europe.”  

He is also much admired by US President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the latter visiting Budapest as a gesture of full-throated endorsement.  With that endorsement came sharp words for the European Union.  “The bureaucrats in Brussels have tried to destroy the economy of Hungary,” Vance stated. “They have tried to make Hungary less energy-independent.  They have tried to drive up costs for Hungarian consumers.  And they’ve done it all because they hate this guy.”

The Hungarian PM remains resolutely stubborn against efforts to continue aiding Ukraine, recently blocking an EU loan package to Kyiv worth 90 billion euros.  For dropping his opposition, he has........

© Eurasia Review