"Are We Sleepwalking into Autocracy?" Trump Embraces Authoritarian Playbook of Hungary's Orbán

Is Trump embracing the authoritarian playbook of far-right Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban? Princeton professor Kim Lane Scheppele walks us through Orban's sudden rise to power and how the Trump administration's recent actions appear to follow his anti-democratic blueprint," with Trump echoing a lot of Orban's rhetoric," consolidating power in the executive branch and bypassing federal checks and balances. Trump is trying to break things quickly," says Scheppele, a professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University. She also notes Orban's involvement in the right-wing Project 2025 initiative and his adoption of the motto Make Europe Great Again" during Hungary's presidency of the Council of the European Union last year as further evidence of the close ties between the two leaders. As Orban works to consolidate this movement of anti-democratic far-right forces" in Europe, warns Scheppele, Trump is tightening his grasp on the other side of the Atlantic.