Hungary's Viktor Orban, once a liberal, has steered his country in a decidedly illiberal direction since he was elected prime minister in 2010. Orban has drawn inspiration from Vladimir Putin's autocratic policies, and he has in turn inspired Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.

Orban has remained at the top of Hungarian politics for 15 years. How has he managed to consolidate control in what had previously been a model post-Communist democracy? And how has he influenced overall European policies?

Orban's counterparts have been nearly as successful in other countries in the region such as Slovakia, Serbia, and Poland. But in 2023, Poland's illiberal party fell from power. Why did the Polish opposition succeed in contrast to the anti-Orban organizing?

And what lessons do Hungary and Poland hold for the next four years of Trump 2.0?

John Feffer is the director of Foreign Policy In Focus and the author of Shock Waves: Eastern Europe after the Revolutions (1992) and Aftershock: A Journey into Eastern Europe's Broken Dreams (2017)

This session with John is the fifth in a monthly IPS series on: Lessons from Resistance to Authoritarianism Around the World.