> Either way, Hungary and US are certainly different enough so even similar things could work out differently in the end.
This mindset is one of the reasons why the US are sliding into authoritarianism and repeating mistakes that were made by many other countries in the last century or so. No, the US are not exceptional and there is nothing unique about American people that makes them intrinsically democratic. You should in fact get yourself familiar with Orban’s Hungary because your future is likely to be quite similar. Also, Mussolini and Putin.
I believe you misunderstood me. I did not mean to imply that American people are somehow born with democracy in their genes (figuratively, of course), if that's what you thought I meant.
Sadly, I have a non-pleasure of being quite familiar with what happened in Russia in the last few decades. And despite my limited knowledge of the US' political system (that I'm still learning about - it's not a small topic) one thing that I'm very certain that some things that worked in Russia are simply impossible in the US, at least in the way they happened. Let me show you:
Putin formed a new KGB (FSB), taking over a decade to slowly grant it more and more powers. He also suppressed the independent media, events including literal police raids of the major television company. He grew the low-level bureaucracy (which seems to be exact opposite of what's happening in the US) and because election process in Russia de facto relies on poorly paid government-ran school teachers (afraid of doing anything to not get fired) he got control of the elections. He also used similar principles to put a lot of pressure on the judicial system. Then he grew the police force (all under Federal government control - different design than US) and took his time training them in extreme brutality (including literal torture). He also took full control of both houses of the Federal Assembly to legislate for him, replaced elections for state-level governors with his own assignments, and did a lot to expand Presidential powers even further. And only then, when he was sure he can contain almost anything, he pulled out an illegal (for some reason he did not follow the legal process but rather made a mockery of it) Constitutional amendment to grant himself his current term.
All that said, I hope you can see what I mean when I say that US' situation is somewhat different and things that worked in Russia aren't perfectly applicable. If Trump wants to make himself an American Tsar, he needs to figure his own way to do so, for most Putin's recipes simply won't work for him because all the preconditions are different.
I suspect (though, of course, I cannot be sure of it) that Hungary also has a lot of its own nuances. At the very least, Orban is not a President and is operating in a whole different political system.
When I said that "similar things could work out different" I was not arguing about or suggesting any course of action or inaction. I've merely stated that we shouldn't think it's all over because some things, events and personalities have some resemblance to other and those others ended badly. This is really complex systems we're talking about, and all the context matters. US still has some safeties left.
> I believe you misunderstood me. I did not mean to imply that American people are somehow born with democracy in their genes (figuratively, of course), if that's what you thought I meant.
It’s not quite what I meant and I was not careful enough when I wrote, sorry. I meant that recent Hungarian history is actually quite similar to what a happening in the US, all things considered, despite some differences.
> one thing that I'm very certain that some things that worked in Russia are simply impossible in the US, at least in the way they happened.
Sure, there are some differences in the details, and I hope the US can still change path. Completely curtailing freedom of the press, for example, would be significantly more difficult than in Russia, and thus is not the path of least resistance (though they have powerful propaganda outlets, an the oligarchy that is forming could make this happen quicker than we think). You make very good points.
> All that said, I hope you can see what I mean when I say that US' situation is somewhat different and things that worked in Russia aren't perfectly applicable.
Indeed. I just think we disagree on the extent of the similarities.
> When I said that "similar things could work out different" I was not arguing about or suggesting any course of action or inaction. I've merely stated that we shouldn't think it's all over because some things, events and personalities have some resemblance to other and those others ended badly.
Fair enough.
> US still has some safeties left.
Indeed, and I hope it won’t go that way. Still, many of these safeties were broken (like he whole legislative branch being made useless and the judiciary being rapidly captured) and the whole political system is in crisis with no end in sight. I am not too optimistic.
This mindset is one of the reasons why the US are sliding into authoritarianism and repeating mistakes that were made by many other countries in the last century or so. No, the US are not exceptional and there is nothing unique about American people that makes them intrinsically democratic. You should in fact get yourself familiar with Orban’s Hungary because your future is likely to be quite similar. Also, Mussolini and Putin.