Viktor Orbán
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While natalism as a political project has its proponents, few heads of state have been willing to attempt to use the full force of the state to raise birth rates. However, one leader does stand out: Hungary's recently-ousted prime minister, Viktor Orbán. This week, June and Josh take a look at Orban's 16-year term as PM, the effects of his policies, and the ways that right-wing authoritarianism in Europe both mirrors and partners with similar movements in the United States.
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EPISODE ART: Viktor Orbán, the former prime minister of Hungary.
AUDIO CLIPS:
1:08:34 – Marco Rubio speaking in Budapest in February 2026, declaring a "golden era" in relations between Hungary and the United States
1:14:09 – JD Vance calling Donald Trump at an April 2026 Viktor Orban election rally in Budapest
SOURCES:
How Viktor Orbán’s Hungary Eroded the Rule of Law and Free Markets
Hungary’s opposition struggles to beat Viktor Orban’s stealth autocracy
Hungary passes constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ public events
Hungary Ends Legal Recognition for Transgender and Intersex People
Hungary’s ongoing demographic decline: an increase in birth rates is the only hope
Authoritarian Populism in Disguise: Orbán’s Anti-Worker ‘Pro-Worker’ Regime
Vance, after rallying in Hungary for Orban, says he wasn’t surprised by the autocrat’s defeat
Hungary: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced a seven-point family protection action plan
Here's why American conservatives are heading to Hungary for a big conference
What one country's experiment says about attempts to boost birth rates
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Writing: June's Substack
Comments (10)
Too late to get in on the b-side, but I'm wondering what effect not collecting income tax on mothers of four even has. That seems like a demographic of people least likely to have jobs, and they want to force women out of work in general. Unless I misunderstood, and we're talking no household income tax, which would of course be devastating
Hungarian Transmasc: Your Honor, the government told me that I could bust raw. What the government failed to do is specify IN WHOM I can bust raw. Case closed.
Probably should have clarified, I'm neither transmasc or Hungarian; I'm just a goof from Ohio.
You might have to get a mold expert on the next episode, if you're going to talk about a certain UK author
Yesss Season 3! Some connections re: Orbán-friendly billionaires, Central European University (you quoted Eva Fodor), and Tucker Carlson's anti-semitic "globalist" dogwhistle: one notable Orbán-UNfriendly billionaire is George Soros, who is Hungarian, Jewish, and who founded CEU in Budapest in 1991 and has given $250m to its endowment. CEU relocated to Vienna between 2017 and 2019 amidst intense attacks from Orbán's government; of course one reason for those attacks was that they upheld academic freedom to allow researchers like the one you quoted to say what they saw.
~45:00 on whether families could just promise to have a given number of children (and then not follow through), that BBC article you linked suggests that families had to pay the money back if they didn't actually have those kids within the allotted time frame: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yzdr4ygdno
Join the natalist mold mind meld! Melt mightily into minty mold! Magnanimous mold.
On the income tax: it makes a lot of sense. It does not apply to fathers & 4+ children does mean the mother likely isn't working for close to 20 years. It likely doesn't cause that big a deficit, it does however cause other issues. 4 kids is a lot
More like OrBANNED from being Prime Minister of Hungary
Pondering my Orbán