Alan Zendell, August 13, 2024

Donald Trump, his MAGA supporters, and the hundred and forty or so current or former Trump staffers who helped write Project 2025 are vocal supporters of Hungarian President Viktor Orban’s governing philosophy of White Christian Nationalism. There is a rapidly growing far-right cult in the United States that touts Christian Nationalism as the way to “make America great again.” As a result, our upcoming presidential election has been framed as a struggle between democracy and our Constitution against Fascism.

I believe that’s true, and it should be the first priority of everyone who casts a vote in November. Trump’s MAGA movement has created a real existential crisis for America, but their obsession with Orban’s Hungary may be their undoing when the rank and file of their base realize exactly what Orban’s version of White Christian Nationalism consists of.

The main points on which Viktor Orban and Donald Trump agree are that immigrants, especially non-Christian, dark-skinned immigrants and free access to information are both dangerous things that need to be controlled by a fascist-like autocracy. Orban’s Christian Nationalism Constitution specifically refers to Christianity’s key role in preserving nationhood and “preserving the intellectual and spiritual unity of our nation.”

Historian Jemar Tisby defines white Christian Nationalism as “an ethnocultural ideology that uses Christian symbolism to create a permission structure for the acquisition of political power and social control.” That definition applied to those excerpts from Hungary’s Constitution makes it sounds chillingly like the Nazis’ attempt to purify the Aryan race.

That doesn’t seem to bother the MAGA extremists, because, as Tisby said, all they care about is acquiring the power to control everyone else. But do they really understand what they’ve bought into? Let’s compare their implied platform with the way Hungary actually functions. Trump’s base may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Hungary’s and Orban’s approach to gun ownership is the complete opposite of what MAGA supporters demand. Hungary has the strictest gun ownership laws in Europe, which include most of the proposals that the majority of Americans support but the National Rifle Association and right-wing politicians hate. Anyone wishing to own a firearm must undergo both physical and psychological exams every four years, and demonstrate gun safety and use proficiency before being licensed. Because of its rigorous gun laws, only 3% of Hungarians are permitted to own weapons, and those must be frequently inspected. Hungary has virtually no illegal gun ownership. By comparison, about a third of American adults legally own guns, while the number of illegal weapons is in the tens of millions. Good luck selling Christian Nationalism gun policy, Donald.

Although Hungary is largely Roman Catholic, abortion has been legal throughout the country since 1953, within the first twelve to twenty-four weeks of a pregnancy depending on the woman’s specific circumstances. Anyone wishing to terminate a pregnancy must first undergo counseling and a three-day waiting period, and obtain a certificate verifying the pregnancy from a midwife or gynecologist. Hungary’s Christian Nationalism is not concerned with questions like the rights of a fetus. Do you think all those evangelists you duped would buy into that, Donald?

Hungary has a universal health care system that is free to all citizens, and the government subsidizes procedures not fully paid for by the national system. Hungary provides free education through university to all citizens, but Donald Trump doesn’t support free lunches for school kids. And Hungary provides retirement salaries for all citizens.

When we look at the “Hungarian model” for MAGA and Project 2025 carefully, we see a mixture of political extremes. On one hand, the government functions like a fascist autocracy set up to benefit an elite oligarchy of powerful people. But it’s also a socialist welfare state that Bernie Sanders would be proud to support.

The only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn is that Project 2025 and Trump’s worship of Viktor Orban are as phoney as everything else Trump says. For Trump, Christian Nationalism is nothing more than an excuse to grab and hold power. All of the noise and bluster about Kamala Harris being a Communist aside, Viktor Orban’s government is simply the same socialist template employed by most of Europe. Like everything else Trump touches, the philosophy he’s touting is a fraud. All he cares about is power and staying out of prison for his previous crimes.

I’m not an expert in political science, but I understand human nature. Orban has figured out what many dictators before him learned. If he keeps his citizens fed, housed, and cared for when they’re sick, they’re less concerned when rights like free speech and the right to vote are compromised. But the United States isn’t Hungary, and White Christian Nationalism won’t work here. Trump doesn’t understand the subtle dynamics that keep a ruler in power. It’s all just a power play for him.