In this episode of Democracy for Sale, Peter Geoghegan is joined by Professor Kim Lane Scheppele to unpick the high-stakes election in Hungary. With Orbán trailing in the polls for the first time in sixteen years, we investigate the transnational network of money and influence fighting to keep him in power. From JD Vance’s surprise appearance at a Budapest rally to the “Golden Spider” web connecting far-right movements across Europe, this is a forensic look at the “Hungarian Playbook” and how it is being exported to the United States via Project 2025.
More content from this blog
- Open letter to Jeffrey Sachs on his position regarding Russian war on Ukraine – 20 March 2023
- You Can Expel Them, But You Can’t Replace Them [Migrant labour in Russia], by Insan Khismay – 26 November 2025
- In the Camps
- No Perfect Victims, No Innocent States, by radical dumpling – 29 August 2026
- Sectarian Socialism: The Politics of Sri Lanka’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), by Rajesh Venugopal – 27 July 2009
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