More from the cited article ...

... But the more important " and unsettling " question is this: Does the way Americans are responding feel familiar, too?

After years watching Hungary suffocate under the weight of its democratic collapse, I came to understand that the real danger of a strongman isn't his tactics; it's how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence.

Take the judiciary. I met leaders of Hungary's sole independent judicial body in October 2022 to discuss their work. For months afterward, their faces (and mine) were plastered in the papers, branded as traitors and foreign agents, just because they had raised concerns about the rule of law in Hungary. The response from other powerful judges?

Silence. ...

@#2 ... Silence. ..

Might that be what Pres Trump is hoping for with his nomination of Mr Bove to a position that seems to be a mere stepping stone to a SCOTUS appointment?