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this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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I'm not sure I get that position. It's a material fact that astounding amounts of wealth have been siphoned out of the Hungarian state and into the pockets of Orbán and a selection of his cronies. It's also a material fact that Hungary's democratic institutions (which, yeah, liberal democracy - were never great to begin with) have been systematically hollowed out to the point that it is a genuine shock for my friend that the supreme court (which has been packed with Orbán toadies) didn't overturn the election. I don't think it's exaggeration to believe that beginning to revert either of these facts will benefit the Hungarian working class - even if they are just reverting to what is essentially status quo in many European countries.
I'm not particularly optimistic about Magyar either. And I'm painfully aware that an incumbent has real little incentive to undo constitutional changes that benefit the incumbent. He also faces an uphill battle against hostile courts, media etc. and it's possible he'll have his hands tied. We'll see. I think Hungarians can have cautious optimism about having ended 16 years of high-handed kleptocracy, as a treat.
What's the difference between the wealth being siphoned by national bourgeoisie cronies or foreign multinational cronies? Neoliberalism is the ideology of corruption, it's inevitable either way.
So, uh, they haven't really been that deeply compromised after all? I think your friend bought into opposition propaganda, same thing is happening in my country, they like to portray our ruling party as this greatest evil that ever befell the nation when in reality when they were in power once or twice they didn't really do anything significantly differently, our policy was largely dictated by more powerful European nations either way.
"What's the difference between the wealth being siphoned by national bourgeoisie cronies or foreign multinational cronies"
"So, uh, they haven't really been that deeply compromised after all?"
It's not gonna change significantly, it never does. I'll eat my words if it does but I don't think it will, I don't know of an example where an Eastern European country got rid of local corruption and things were much better for the working class, it just doesn't happen that way. I think if you believe all this corruption money is suddenly going to make its way to healthcare and infrastructure you're being a bit naive.
Maybe you're right. Maybe you're not. The ideas that corruption doesn't matter and nothing ever changes are unconvincing to me in the face of A) the immense scale of Orbán's corruption and B) the fact that he actually lost, and accepted the outcome (something very few had predicted).
But I fear we're going in circles. I'll go with cautious optimism for now, and save the cynicism for later.