Anders Puck NielsenApr 13
Mark Asser

Just noting, for the benefit of people who are pointing out that Hungary's PM-elect isn't some sort of progressive saint:

1. Yeah, his party is centre-right, but it's also the furthest left of the parties with seats in the new parliament.

2. Winning a two-thirds majority in a system designed to disadvantage opposition parties is a seismic shift.

3. Look back over the last century-and-a-bit of Hungarian history and you'll see the red-rag Left doing many horrible things which have not been forgotten. You'll also see the interwar fascism of the Horthy "regency" and maybe you'll agree that Hungary can have a bit of near-centrism, as a treat.

So, this is where us outsiders sit back and shut up and watch as an antidemocratic system is brought back to something resembling normality.

Apr 12 at 10:14pmWeb
Show threadBrett MasonApr 12

@MarkAsser

Well said. Still gives us a glimmer of hope!

Show threadspiegelmamaApr 12
@MarkAsser The U.S. and U.K. should take notes. We've got some work ahead of us to unfuck our countries.
Show threadMark AsserApr 12
@spiegelmama I have Opinions on what needs to be done in both cases but I'll kerp them to myself for now - and not jus because nuance is impossible while typing on a bus which is lurching a bit.
Show threadspiegelmamaApr 13
@MarkAsser ❤️
Show threadtudorApr 13
@spiegelmama @MarkAsser what happened in Hungary can't happen in the US. Here the process of voting was always free, practical, cheat-proof and done extremely professionally. The cheating happened somewhere else. The US does not allows people to vote, or their votes to be counted, or allows cheating during the voting or the counting.
Show threadspiegelmamaApr 13
@tudor @MarkAsser That is at best a half-truth. There is voter suppression in the U.S. for sure, but almost no voter fraud. I'm not sure what you get out of making things up, but I'm going to mute you.
Show threadtudorApr 13
@spiegelmama @MarkAsser for those who havenot muted me - not fraud by the people, but for example allowing random republican affiliated tech people unmonitored access to the voting machines.
Show threadHeather EvansApr 12
@MarkAsser
Absolutely Mark & very well said.
Show threadBin Chicken 🗑𓅠Apr 12
@MarkAsser Well said, thankyou!
Show threadJohannesApr 13
@MarkAsser the biggest difference between centrists and people like Orban is: You can push centrists to do progressive things if you put enough public pressure on them.
Show threadSueDiOhApr 13
@MarkAsser After 16 years of a wanna-be dictator, democracy worked, because people came out and voted him out in overwhelming numbers.
Show threadElricApr 13
@MarkAsser I'm one of those people, and I appreciate the extra context you're providing.
Show threadIsaac Ji KuoApr 13

@MarkAsser Another thing to bear in mind is that politics are relative.

I live in a country where it's kinda a global joke that our "left" political party would be considered "center right" most anywhere else.

And that's not wrong.

But there's still a big difference between our two major parties, and that difference matters.

Show threadmojalaApr 13
@MarkAsser True but it remains to be seen if Tisza will be able to remove Orbans support structure. And will they replace it with a democratic option or is it just Orban 2.0 just named Magyar.
Show threadEaterOfSnacksApr 13
@mojala @MarkAsser Wasn't that possibility linked to a parliamentary super majority, which threshold has been passed by now? Alternatively I wasn't skimming the news deeply enough 😁
Show threadmojalaApr 13
@eaterofsnacks @MarkAsser No i mean that now that they have the means will they just switch orbans cronies with Magyars cronies? Will they work to dismantle the possibility of amassing power to single (popular) party? I’m really hoping that they will but am not very sure.
Show threadEaterOfSnacksApr 13
@mojala @MarkAsser ah yeah, that's a good question. I guess it might come down to public opinion, which seems pretty fired-up, and how far the EU is willing to go to be the "better partner" compared to Russia in a way that makes him look good. I'd bet they're already working on that part.
Show threadmojalaApr 13
@eaterofsnacks @MarkAsser Which will give him the perfect opportunity to play both sides like Orban
Show threadEaterOfSnacksApr 13
@mojala @MarkAsser Yeah, I just suspect the balance is more in the other direction now. We'll see, I guess
Show threadElGranjApr 13
@MarkAsser Yeah! And most of that people who criticize tend to ignore/forget that Hungary was a communist country. Communist, as in far left communism. So they -Hungarians- DO know the effect of living under those regimes, on which democracy didn't exist. Remember people: The extreme of the right is Fascism, the extreme of the left is communism. Neither extreme is democratic and it uses the same methods to stay in power.
Show threadOlivier Roux (moose)Apr 13
@MarkAsser @cstross he’s not center right: he left Orban’s party in 2024 and was married to his Justice minister. So pretty much in line with Orban, I’d say. So is it great he kicked Orban out? Of course! But then, he’s on the reactionary, conservative side of the Right. Not center.
Show threadianbobmorrisApr 14
@MarkAsser @cstross the guy isn't a fascist so yay
Show threadCharlie StrossApr 14
@ianbobmorris @MarkAsser Magyar split from Fidesz about four years ago and was okay with being fascist-adjacent up to that point. It's incremental change in the right direction, not the jubillee.