Richard Michael BlaberMay 20
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/20/death-of-accountability-nigel-farage-no-10-brexit. "Austerity plus #Brexit enabled the rise of Farage’s #ReformUK. Further #decline & #insecurity are a boon for those who can channel our rage towards #scapegoats: #immigrants, #asylumseekers, #Muslims, woke 'elites'. If #Farage becomes prime minister in 2029, his Brexit disaster will be a major reason why." The #Nazis blamed the #Jews for people's ills - & THEY were believed, too! Simple answers aren't always the right ones.
Nothing sums up the death of accountability like the prospect of Nigel Farage in No 10

You’d expect the public face of Brexit to be punished by voters. But history shows that such leaders often profit from the chaos they sow, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

The Guardian
Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

Cathy Young surveys the response of the American right (read: MAGA) to Orbán's defeat and concludes that those folks aren't taking the loss well. Elon Musk predictably goes low (and antisemitic) by lamenting that Soros (!) has taken over Hungary. Others like Rod Dreher want to pretend that Orbán's concession to Magyar proves that he was always about democracy and not autocracy.

#Orbán #Trump #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #antisemitism
/13

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/nationalist-right-orban-loss-election-mourning-hungary-vance-dreher

The Nationalist Right Isn’t Taking Orbán’s Loss Well

Mourning one of their own.

The Bulwark
Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

"They insist the country is being stolen, that real people are losing control, that chaos is spreading. ...

Moral and media panics are not incidental to this project; they are its central tools."

#Trump #StephenMiller #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #EthnicCleansing #hate
/12

Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

"If you pull these threads together—Reconstruction and Redemption, the Know‑Nothings, McCarthyism, the crime panics—you see different versions of the same playbook. Something changes in the direction of greater equality or pluralism. New voices insist on being heard. In response, elites and would‑be strongmen sound the alarm."

~ Mark Mansour

#Trump #StephenMiller #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #EthnicCleansing #hate
/11

https://mmansour.substack.com/p/history-as-a-mirror

History As A Mirror

from reconstruction to MAGA, it is the same old song; time for real change

America’s Fractured Politics
Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

"Like dictators before him, Trump’s road to tyranny is paved with stones hurled at 'them' — whether 'they' are immigrants, Iranians, or anyone else who doesn’t fit the white Christian nationalist mold."

#Trump #StephenMiller #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #EthnicCleansing #hate
/10

Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

"The war in Iran has made everything — even Stephen Miller’s war on immigrants — feel like the Strait of Hormuz....

Miller and Trump, on the other hand, want to fuel bigotry. Their entire project depends on hate."

~ Robert Reich

#Trump #StephenMiller #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #EthnicCleansing #hate
/9

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/steven-millers-strait-of-hormuz

Stephen Miller's Strait of Hormuz

His crackdown on immigrants is assumed to be good for America as long as it causes immigrants more pain than it does us. Same "logic" as Trump is using in Iran.

Robert Reich
Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

"Because Orbán’s administration has used antisemitism as a political tool throughout his time in power, and is desperately turning to this hatred once again on its way, possibly, out the electoral door. ...

This playbook has clear resonances in that deployed by Trump."

#Orbán #Trump #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #antisemitism
/9

Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

"There is much that Americans can learn from the Hungarian experience of years spent under the governance of someone accused of dismantling rule of law, a person whose inner circle has grown rich during his time in office. But American Jews in particular should pay attention."

~ Emily Tamkin

#Orbán #Trump #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #antisemitism
/8

https://forward.com/opinion/818143/orban-hungary-election-antisemitism/

Hungary is poised to topple an authoritarian leader. American Jews have something to learn

Viktor Orbán has employed antisemitism to sustain his power in a way the Trump administration is trying to mimic

The Forward
Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

"Even during his infamous DoorDash delivery this week, Trump clumsily interjected 'men playing women’s sports' into a staged conversation about taxes on tips. The forced non sequitur was awkward for its obviousness."

#Orbán #Trump #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #antisemitism
/7

Show threadWilliam Lindsey Apr 15

"Critics also describe how Orbán routinely created 'imaginary enemies' to distract voters, another Hitlerian maneuver perfected by Trump. From falsely depicting immigrants as violent criminals, to accusing DEI programs of ‘white bashing,’ Trump constantly stokes social division by creating then perpetuating imaginary enemies."

~ Sabrina Haake

#Orbán #Trump #autocracy #corruption #scapegoats #immigrants #antisemitism
/6

https://sabrinahaake.substack.com/p/if-hungary-can-do-it-so-can-we

If Hungary can do it, so can we

Mark Wilson Getty Images Trump and Orban, May 2019.

The Haake Take