Below is my column in The Hill on the defeat of Viktor Orban. There was good-faith criticism of Orban as autocratic. However, the irony is that Hungary may have now cleared the way for the final stage of the European Union in overruling individual nations and their citizens on core policies.
Here is the column:
The defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary last weekend was celebrated by many who saw the former president as establishing single-party rule in his central European nation. The irony is that this claimed victory for democracy may fuel the establishment of a global governance system that is neither democratic nor accountable to citizens.
The European Union was criticized by many for taking sides in the Hungarian election and for undermining Orban, who asserted national priorities in disputes with the EU. No sooner had Orban conceded defeat than a jubilant European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for the final coup de grace for national identity and sovereignty: the elimination of the ability of nations to stand against EU policies.
Orban was controversial for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his lack of support for Ukraine. He was also accused of authoritarianism and corruption. I shared in some of those criticisms. However, the unintended consequence of this election could be the removal of a single autocrat in favor of a global bureaucracy.
Van der Leyen helped elect the pro-EU Peter Magyar in order to remove a barrier to the EU’s ultimate exercise of power. The EU had been squeezing Hungary over its defiance by holding back billions in funds. Despite his tough talk on negotiations with the EU, Magyar is expected by EU bureaucrats to be a suppliant, willing to fall into line with the EU agenda.
The EU Chief has reportedly already given Magyar a list of 27 demands he must meet before she will turn the spigot back on. She did not try to hide the agenda, announcing that the EU needed to “use the momentum now” to consolidate its power.
Under the plan, member states would lose control of their policy and could be forced to adhere to the priorities and values of the EU majority.
The EU Chief celebrated the new day of global governance in the making: “Moving to qualified majority voting in foreign policy is an important way to avoid systemic blockages, as we have seen in the past.”
In “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss the dangers posed to the American republic this century by the rise of global governance systems like the EU. The book explores how globalists planned to gradually get nations to yield their authority to the EU — destroying national identity and sovereignty in favor of an EU bureaucracy in Brussels.
As the EU moves to kill off national sovereignty, EU commissioners are calling for a single European military command, completing a longstanding globalist goal.
The 250th anniversary of our republic is occurring as we face an unprecedented EU threat. Our revolution was fought against a foreign empire. It now faces an even greater threat from a global government asserting the right to compel American companies to censor Americans and comply with environmental, social and governance or ESG policies.
At the same time, American figures such as Hillary Clinton are encouraging the EU to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights using the infamous Digital Services Act to restore speech controls to social media. Other Americans have testified before the EU, calling on it to fight the U.S. Banners are now flying in Europe declaring, “We are the Free World Now,” as the globalists attempt to supplant freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
If the American Republic is to survive another 250 years, it must preserve key rights that the EU has been systematically destroying in Europe — freedom of speech, division of powers and political accountability of decision-makers.
That is why, I believe, the EU is inherently unstable and likely to ultimately collapse.
The EU has worked very hard to dismantle national sovereignty and identity in its member states. Historically, such collapses have been followed by different forms of tyranny.
Whatever comes next — and I could be wrong in my pessimism about the EU — the U.S. must take seriously the threat that this global governance system poses to our own values and sovereignty.
Von der Leyen is right that there is “momentum now” for the globalists, but the momentum of history still rests with the U.S. and its unique experiment in self-governance.
We saw this threat before, and we defeated a world empire. If we are to survive and thrive in this century, we will need to return to our own creation as a republic — to dig deep down and remember who we are as citizens.
Ours was the first Enlightenment revolution that embraced natural rights originating not from government but from God. We remain a unique people, joined by an article of faith found in our own Declaration of Independence. If this republic is to survive, it will be up to each of us, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, to “keep it.”
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
The existential threat to America isn’t from the EU–it’s from MAGA, Project 2025 and the sociopathic narcissist who lied to get into office by promising to precipitously drop the cost of groceries, who denied knowing anything about Project 2025, and then immediately implemented it, and who keeps lying every single day. This loser just can’t get enough of the perceived trappings of power and glory. Trump ordered a gold-embellished statue of himself with the fist-pumping image following the ear scratch he got from the alleged assassination attempt that many claim may well have been staged–but the sculptor has it locked up because he is owed $90,000. Trump thinks he’s going to install an Arch D’Trump monument to himself and his perceived glory, complete with gold-embellishments, near Arlington National Cemetery, but is being sued by a Viet Nam Veterans Groups to stop it. You know—Viet Nam–that war going on when Trump faked bone spurs to keep from serving his country. You know–veterans, especially those who have died–the ones Trump calls “suckers and losers”. Trump has installed banners with his ugly, jowly face on several federal government buildings. Trump tore down the East Wing of the White House to build a vainglory ballroom that would dwarf the historic White House itself, all without asking Congress or the Historic Preservation people–who have sued successfully to stop it. Trump’s lawyers lied and said that the ballroom was needed for national security–the Judge laughed them out of court. Trump installed tacky gold embellishments in the Oval Office and all over the White House that look cheap and gaudy. He wants his face added to Mount Rushmore. He has set a record for low approval ratings. His party faces a landslide defeat in the midterms, so he’s trying everything to stop the will of the American people–from getting red states to add more Republican districts, to trying to limit who can vote, by lying about nonexistent widespread voter fraud and trying to limit mail voting. Interim state and federal elections have flipped Republican seats to Democrats. Historically, the American people are taking to the streets in protest of Trump and his policies–by the millions–the numbers keep growing.
Trump started a war with Iran after promising “no new wars”. He didn’t consult with Congress, much less our EU and NATO allies, and then can’t understand why they won’t bail him out of this mess he caused. Another reason–Trump accused our allies of “ripping us off” and has threatened to take over Greenland, a Danish territory, and NATO ally. He thinks he can command that Canada become a 51st state. He keeps trying to bully Iran with threats of genocide that violate the Geneva Convention–proclaiming that he would wipe out their civilization and bomb every bridge, desalination plant and electric generating station (deliberately targeting such civilian necessitites and residential buildings are additional violations of the Geneva Convention)– and keeps lying about starting this war because Iran was an imminent nuclear threat to the US, even though our own intelligence says that Iran did not have any missiles capable of reaching the US, nor did it have any nuclear bombs. The matter of nuclear bombs wouldn’t exist if Trump hadn’t torn up the agreement reached by Obama. The truth is, Netanyahu coaxed Trump into starting this war–after he couldn’t get Biden, Obama or Bush to fall for his lies. Netanyahu wants more territory for Israel, so it started bombing Lebanon–just like Israel stole the West Bank from Palestine and moved in 800,000 Israeli settlers. Trump is going after the Pope who pointed out that war should be a last resort–after diplomacy fails.
Now, thanks to Trump and his illegal tariffs, grocery prices are higher than ever, gas went up an additional dollar a gallon in a matter of days–Trump lies about the cost of gas, saying it’s going down–it isn’t, and won’t for months, if not years. Trump was warned that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz–which they have done. Trump lies about “regime change”–the new leader is the son of the former leader, and is more radical. All Iran has to do is hold on–every day the Strait is closed, it puts a strain on international economics–and it is all Trump’s fault. Inflation is going up, and unemployment is rising. But, those very wealthy got historic tax breaks. If anyone is destroyng our national sovereignty and democracy and our relations with the EU, that we need, it’s Trump and MAGA.
Most government employees are really good people usually with good intentions. But the Nanny State bureaucracy creates some really evil results for average people. Not through malicious intent but simply bureaucratic systems.
Even the nicest government officials with good intentions have blind spots and are tone deaf in problem solving.
Many bureaucrats (through no fault of their own) have little experience in non-government jobs and many college educated with no knowledge of how regular blue-collar people live or survive.
The bureaucrats also use their own value system to solve problems that don’t always match the people they represent. Good intentions but sometimes totally tone-deaf creating evil results for average people.
For example:
according to FOIA requests from the federal government itself, there could be up to 1 million people worldwide (up to 40,000 Americans on U.S. soil) falsely blacklisted by the American government – denied all constitutional due process for 25 years.
Apparently the bureaucrats realized they screwed up, but instead of apologizing and owning it up to it, they engineered it so that their torture victims have money, food and shelter likely to minimize future lawsuits.
The bureaucrats destroyed these innocent people’s careers and livelihoods, they destroyed their dignity of livable wage but they won’t officially apologize in any public way. So these innocent Americans have been interrogated for over 25 years by their employers (or customers if self-employed). These bureaucrats today in 2026 still won’t allow their faux-prisoners to make a livable wage on anything considered a risk to national security.
Their faux-prisoner could be allowed to do the dangerous job of tree pruning but not allowed to make a livable wage to do safer jobs working on tall buildings in cities (due to fraudulent 9/11 reactions). So that increases the risk of serious injury or death, but they have totally bypassed judges altogether. If their faux-prisoner dies they apparently act as though they had nothing to do with it. If allowed to work these Americans are being illegally interrogated and abused every day for 25 years. These bureaucrats seem totally clueless as to the harm they are doing to innocent Americans. If Congress can’t fix this genuine evil in over 25 years, how can they supervise an international nanny state?
Here is a fact of life: even well-meaning nanny state bureaucrats create extremely evil results especially in the electronic internet age, with covert blacklisting technologies. An international Nanny State would be extremely dangerous.
Way off Topic: If there is a lawyer or past lawyer perhaps you could answer this question? As I understand it the statute of limitations is 5 years for most crimes. With the information being released, giving the impression that several individuals in the government worked together to crush Trump, what is the time frame, if any, if it can be determined a conspiracy?
Thanks in advance.
richard
The nasty anonymous and X need not respond.
Be honest. Who do you trust more? Do you trust your spouse, family and friends more than a politician you’ve never met running for election?
For most people worldwide that would be an easy answer, you have the least amount of trust in the politician running for election.
Democracy is a “bottom-up” system of representation. Local voters casting ballots to elect leaders. In the USA we call it self-governing.
In an international governing body, you have politicians you’ve never met trying to impose a “top-down” system of government. They aren’t representing local citizens, they are dictating to local citizens.
This “top-down” system never works in the long run. Why would Congress approve any of it?
The American Founders and their posterity took the colonies and the territories to the Pacific Ocean from Great Britain, the Indians, and Mexico.
Certainly their posterity now are capable of taking the United States of America back from the communist invaders.
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“[We gave you] a [restricted-vote] republic, if you can keep it.”
– Ben Franklin
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You couldn’t.
America has forgotten all about the Mayflower Compact of 1629 at their peril. This document managed the implantation of a civil body politic that maintained order in the colony. Now all there is is disorder and chaos. You can call it freedom if you like but I call it entropy.
Freedom to fail?
The vast majority of citizens worldwide are opposed to government “Nanny States” including both Democrat and Republican voters. Not only are nanny states unpopular but they simply never succeed by their very design.
A top-down totalitarian style government doesn’t live in your neighborhood. When they make bad decisions at the local level, they have no skin in the game – they are not harmed by the consequences of that bad governing.
A great example was ICE in Minnesota: federal officials flew into the nearby airport, cause mass destruction and death to local communities – then they flew back home. They never have to deal with the longterm damage they caused.
By contrast, assuming it was legal constitution action, if ICE had deferred authority to local and state officials there likely would have been no deaths and minimal destruction of property – since local officials know the neighborhoods and have to live with actions since they live there. Local officials can’t simply fly away and never return.
Both Democrats and Republicans hate nanny state governing. Women don’t want men to tell them what they can do with their own bodies or what types of jobs they can do. Gun owners don’t want a nanny state telling them they can’t go hunting in rural areas.
An international “Nanny State” government would be equally tone-deaf to its member nations. Americans have guaranteed constitutional rights that can only be altered through a constitutional-amendment process. An international nanny state can’t take away any American’s First Amendment rights or any rights.
You know you’re completely delusional, right? The deaths at hands of ice were martyrdoms. The crazies were encouraged to act out in ways likely to get violent responses from the badged patriots. This suicidal cult was successful and probably lead to a shake up in the deportation program of the administration and termination of operation in the locality of the suicide cult. Death of few crazies isn’t long term damage. It isn’t damage at all.
As for guns, forget the dog – beware of owner.
You need to have your head screwed on right.
anonymous (2:07) Yours is one of the dumbest comments yet.
YOU said,
“A great example was ICE in Minnesota: federal officials flew into the nearby airport, cause mass destruction and death to local communities – then they flew back home. They never have to deal with the longterm damage they caused.
By contrast, assuming it was legal constitution action, if ICE had deferred authority to local and state officials there likely would have been no deaths and minimal destruction of property – since local officials know the neighborhoods and have to live with actions since they live there. Local officials can’t simply fly away and never return.”
Look, dumbass, ICE comes in AFTER there is a SIGNED AGREEMENT/Memorandum of Understanding between the states and municipalities and ICE. Read it, dope.
https://www.ice.gov/identify-and-arrest/287g
Typo alert: Orban was prime minister, not president. The President of Hungary (for now) is Tamás Sulyok.