Washing My Brain

”I shall be an autocrat; that is my trade” – Catherine the Great

Catherine was an outsider in Russia at first. Born in Stettin in the Kingdom of Prussia in 1729, she was Princess Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. To strengthen diplomatic relations between Prussia and Russia, it was arranged that Sophie would marry Karl Peter Ulrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, who would later become Peter III of Russia.

Upon their first meeting, when Sophie was ten years old, she despised Karl. She disliked how he looked and thought that he drank too much. She stayed at one end of the castle and he at the other. They did marry as arranged, however, when Sophie was sixteen. The year before their marriage Sophie converted to orthodox Christianity. At the ceremony she chose the Russian name Ekaterina (Catherine in English).

In January 1762 Peter became emperor of Russia and by July Catherine had him imprisoned. He was assassinated eight days after that and Catherine usurped the throne to become empress. She then had pretenders to the throne, such as Ivan VI, also assassinated to consolidate her power.

Donald Trump was once also seen as an outsider in Washington. He played a successful businessman on tv (less successful in real life; six bankruptcies, including a casino. He was the house and still lost). He said things that no other politician would dream of and even if they had it would have ended their career. Running against the Democrat nominee, Hilary Clinton, in 2016 Donald Trump improbably became president of the US.

After his failed re-election campaign in 2020 and the subsequent failed coup that he launched on January 6th 2021, he retuned to the presidency once again in 2025. The four years that Trump spent out of office gave him, and those around him, time to plan for what they would be if he was re-elected.

Illiberal Democracy

There is a great man, a great leader in Europe — Viktor Orban. … He is the prime minister of Hungary. He is a very great leader, a very strong man – Donald Trump, January 2024.

Victor Orban also spent time on the opposition benches between 2002 and 2010. Once his Fidesz party was returned to power and Orban became prime minister again, they moved to consolidate power. They did this through several different means, including: the systematic restructuring of state institutions; electoral system manipulation; curtailing civil liberties; centralising economic power and patronage; control over education and intellectual life; and suppressing dissent and marginalising opposition. They have created what Orban has termed an illiberal democracy. This is defined as a state which has the appearance of a democracy through the use of elections, but is in fact one where the fundamental systems of a democracy are undermined or disregarded.

Fidesz weakened the judiciary as their first priority in 2010. The did this through a legislative amendment that allowed justices to the Constitutional Court to be appointed by ruling majority in parliament, rather than the previous model of seeking consensus among all parliamentary parties. This allowed pro-government nominees to be appointed and by 2013 these held a majority on the court.

In 2010 Orban passed the Fundamental Law, a rewriting of the Hungarian constitution that did not include consultation from opposition parties or civil society. The enshrined the governments requirement to protect all Hungarians, whether at home or abroad. It banned same-sex marriage, denied all rights to transexual people, and defined life as beginning with an embryo.

In 2011 they passed further amendments to weaken the judiciary. They abolished the National Judiciary Council, which oversaw the judicial branch and replaced it with two new bodies. These are the National Judicial Council and the National Office of the Judiciary. The latter of these institutions is responsible for the administration of the courts in Hungary and its head is appointed by the parliament. This led to Tunde Hando, wife of a Fidesz MEP, being elected head of the organisation.

Further reforms were enacted to the Curia, Hungarys highest court. This required all lower courts to follow decisions handed down by the Curia and for the Curia to review any cases that deviate from their decisions. Fidesz appointed Zsolt Andras Varga to the role of Curia President, a party loyalist with no judicial experience, thus increasing their control over the judiciary.

Fidesz appointed party loyalists to other state institutions, including the Prosecutor General and the president of the State Audit Office. Political appointees had their terms of office extended well beyond government cycles to increase the influence of Fidesz should they lose power.

Orban took control of Hungarian media through the creation of the National Media and Infocommunication Authority. Annamaria Szalai, a former Fidesz member, was appointed to a nine year term and given the authority to regulate content, issue penalties, and suspend operations of outlets that it deems to present “unbalanced” or “amoral” content. This led to the media to be unable to act independently or critically of government due to the widespread censorship of opposing views.

Ahead of the EU elections in 2019, leaked audio of a senior editor at a media organisation instructed those making programmes to follow ”the appropriate narrative, method, and direction, mostly about migrants and Brussels”.

In 2021 it was revealed that journalists and private citizens were targeted by the spyware Pegasus. The spyware was purchased by the Hungarian state from the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group. The government controlled Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information concluded that no laws were broken by the use of Pegasus.

A law passed in 2021 mandated that the State Audit Office must investigate any NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) with an annual budget of 20 million forints (€50,000; $56,000). The Sovereign Protection Act was passed in 2023 and the Sovereign Protection Authority (SPA) was created the same year. The organisation was headed by Tamas Lanczi and tasked with protecting the state from foreign influence. The SPA has expansive and unchecked powers to investigate civil society and the media. The activities of the SPA have never been defined in law, meaning that they can decide what their own mandate is. The SPA can request information from any organisation in Hungary about an individual. They can refer any cases to the authorities for criminal proceedings. They also issue public reports about their findings with no avenue for appeal.

Universities in Hungary were placed under boards of management ran by party loyalists, politicians, and ministers, thus undermining the autonomy that they previously had.

Orban accused George Soros, a Hungarian billionaire investor and philanthropist, of “trying secretly and with foreign money to influence Hungarian politics”. The Central European University, which was funded by Soros, was forced to move to Vienna in 2019.

The Matthias Corvinus College, a university close to Fidesz, was gifted the states shares in the two leading companies in Hungary and are controlled by an asset management company on their behalf. This financial capacity has allowed them to expand and offer classes from primary to university levels. Their aim is to create an ideologically aligned intellectual elite. The chairman of the board of Matthias Corvinus College is Viktor Orban’s political director.

Fidesz adopted a nativist and populist rhetoric. Orban fostered an ‘us v them’ attitude and is quoted as saying, after the 2002 electoral defeat “the country cannot be in opposition”.

In 2015 Fidesz began to attack asylum seekers attempting to enter the EU and Hungary. Orban portrayed these individuals as terrorists preparing to attack Europe and European values. In 2018 the ’Stop Soros’ law was passed which criminalised anyone providing advice, services, or support to migrants or asylum seekers. The government chose World Refugee Day to pass the legislation.

Hungary built a fence along the border with Serbia to prevent anyone from entering. Orban has said “We would like to keep Europe for Europeans… also we want… to preserve Hungary for Hungarians.”

As the migrant crisis faded Orban looked for a new threat to the nation and in it he found sexual minorities. In 2021 an anti-paedophilia law was passed which conflated homosexuality and paedophilia. Amendments to the law banned the portrayal or ‘promotion’ of homosexuality. The sale of children’s books containing LGBT characters must be in closed wrappings or bookshops will be fined.

In 2025 the Hungarian government passed legislation which would restrict the LGBT communities freedom of assembly with the intention to outlaw Pride events. The law also allows the use of facial recognition technology to identify attendees at such events. Orban praised the passing of the legislation and said “We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids.”

The Orbanisation of the US

We have entered the programme-writing system of President Donald Trump’s team, and we have deep involvement there.” Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, July 2024.

The US is not Hungary, they have been a democracy for considerably longer and have stronger institutions to protect civil society. The separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, as well as rights conferred upon the states, means that a president would not normally be able to exert total control over the US. The US shift towards the far right had begun before Donald Trump ran for office, though, and has been influenced by a diverse list of characters.

Since the Reagan administration Republican thinkers have promoted Unitary Executive Theory. This is the idea that the power of president has been curtailed by limits imposed upon it by Congress, the courts, and the civil service. The thinking is that the president no longer controls the executive branch because of these limits and cannot implement the mandate given to him by voters in elections. Unitary Executive Theory would restore these powers and allow the president to overwhelm all other branches of government.

A strong executive branch is the first step in controlling all elements of the state. Trump has stated his intention to bring independent agencies “under presidential authority, as the Constitution demands.” As Russell Vought, budget director during Trump’s first term and a significant author of Project 2025, has said “what we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them.”

Trump had a clearly become aware of Unitary Executive Theory during his first term as can be seen by his Executive Order which became known as ‘Schedule F’. This would have stripped employment protections from serving civil servants who displayed disloyalty towards the president and encourage expressions of loyalty in the hiring process.

After being elected for the second time, Trump set up the Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE) to be headed by Elon Musk. The alleged objective of DOGE was to curb governmental waste, however, as of May 2nd Reuters reported that 260,000 government employees had been fired, taken buyouts, or retired early. It is projected that by the end of 2025 that 300,000 federal employees will have been let go. This would be the largest reduction in the workforce at the start of a new presidency since records began in the 1950s.

Elon Musk bankrolled Donald Trump during the campaign in 2024. He was the most significant contributor to either candidate during the election, reportedly donating over $250 million dollars. This was significantly more than the next two biggest donators to the Trump campaign; Timothy Mellon, an heir of the Mellon banking family, and Miriam Adelson, widow of Sheldon Adelson and owner of one of the largest casino groups worldwide. In return for his campaign contributions, Elon Musk was put in charge of his own organisation to cut the administrative state .

USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, an organisation create in 1961 by John F. Kennedy to administer foreign aid and development assistance worldwide had 80% of it’s funding cut and the remaining functions were transferred to the State Department. The agency had provided disaster relief, poverty alleviation, and environmental help in the global south, among other roles.

Voice of America was an organisation which promoted US soft power around the world. Founded in 1942 it broadcast news, information, and cultural programming in dozens of languages. The broadcaster would provide uncensored information to those living under a dictatorship and promote American cultural values. In 2022 VoA had a listenership of 361 million people. Since August 2025 staff at VoA have been pared down to 108 and broadcast have been limited to music or limited.

At home the Trump administration has made significant cuts to the budgets of National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Station, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Accusing the organisations of having a woke and left wing bias, the CPB will have all federal funding ceased over the next two years.

Donald Trump has attacked private media organisations directly. He has sued CBS which resulted in the station settling out of court, replacing its news department, and firing their top rate late night presenter Stephen Colbert. After the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show, Trump posted on his social media platform that Jimmy Kimmel would be next. In September 2025 Kimmel was briefly suspended from his show after commenting that the shooter of Charlie Kirk was a MAGA supporter.

The Wall Street Journal published a card written by Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday, originally compiled in a book by Ghislaine Maxwell. In response to this Donal Trump filed a lawsuit for $10 billion dollars against the Wall Street Journal, its parent company Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, and the journalists who authored the article.

Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that any tv station broadcasting unfavourable information or opinions about him should have their licenses revoked. This coupled with his use of lawsuits against media organisations has had the intention of creating a culture of fear within independent media. The power of a vengeful president is attempting to quash negative reporting of his and his administrations actions.

Mitch McConnell saw the judiciary as the way to promote Republican beliefs. Judicial appointments are for a lifetime and can outlast multiple presidencies. The most contentious issues in society will eventually end up being debated in the courts and Republicans have appointed a large number of these.

McConnell stalled the appointment of judges during the Obama presidency with the intention of having a Republican nominate them instead. In the last two years of Obama’s presidency only 28% of judicial nominees were confirmed by the Senate. This compares with 80% during the final two years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

In the last year of Obama’s presidency a vacancy opened on the Supreme Court and McConnell refused to confirm the nomination of Merrick Garland. McConnell claimed that he had a Supreme Court appointment could not take place in the same year as a presidential election. This is not a view he abided by when another vacancy opened in the final year of Donald Trump’s first term, when the confirmation of Amy Cony Barrett was rushed through.

Donald Trump had already appointed two Supreme Court judges by this point and more lower court judges than any president previously. The Supreme Court now leaned definitively to the right and began to reshape the United States. The court struck down Roe v Wade, which had allowed abortion; the ruling in favour of 303 Creative v Elenis allowed a graphic designer to refuse business to members of the LGBT community; the decision in favour of City of Grants Pass v Johnson deemed that forbidding homeless people from sleeping or camping outside does not infringe their constitutional rights; and Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the N.A.A.C.P. reversed a lower court order that outlawed a racially gerrymandered electoral map that the ruling judge said was the “bleaching of African American voters” from a district.

The most significant decision handed down by the right leaning Supreme Court, however, has been Trump v. United States. In a 6-3 decision, this ruling grants the president immunity from prosecution for all official acts. This decision broadens the scope of presidential power. In 1974, in Nixon v the United States, the Supreme Court rejected then President Richard Nixon’s claim to executive privilege regarding the release of tape recordings of his conversations. As recently as 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump did not have the right to withhold the release of financial documents in the criminal investigation. Chief Justice John Roberts said wrote in the majority opinion on this latter case “no citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding.”

Sonia Sotomayor, one of the three dissenting justices in Trump v United States, wrote in the minority opinion “The long-term consequences of today’s decision are stark. The Court effectively creates a law-free zone around the President, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the Founding…In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law…This majority’s project will have disastrous consequences for the Presidency and for our democracy.”

The dissenting justices laid out some hypothetical situations in their decision that if the president “orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organises a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”

In 1982 Ronald Reagan proposed abolishing the Department of Education. This has been a goal of Republican Party ever since. DOGE entered the Department in February 2025 and accessed confidential internal databases. A budget cut of $900 million dollars was announced and mass lay offs began. This has led to half the Departments workforce being fired. Donald Trump has echoed Ronald Reagan, having said “I’d like it to be closed immediately. The Department of Education’s a big con job.”

Columbia University was the first third level institution in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. The administration had accused Columbia of civil rights violations and anti-semitism. These accusations led to the withholding of over $400 million in federal research grants. In July Columbia came to an agreement with the administration and agreed to: review and restructuring of Middle Eastern studies department; elimination of race-based admissions policies; enhanced oversight of international student admissions; requirement to provide comprehensive data on student demographics and admissions to federal government.

After the agreement was reached with Columbia the administration offered what it called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” to universities nationwide. The compact includes: a commitment to transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas; elimination of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs; binary gender definitions for bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams; a ban on considering race, gender, and demographic factors in admissions; caps on international student enrolments. Universities have been told that agreeing to the compact will result in preferential access to federal funding. Those institutions not signing up to the compact will, therefore, elect not to receive federal assistance.

On his first day as president Donald Trump signed a series of Executive Orders, one of which ordered the federal government to recognise only two sexes, male and female, and to disregard previous gender identity policy. This was the start of a series of attacks on members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Transgender people have been banned from serving openly in the military and denied access to gender-affirming medical care in federal health programs like Medicare. The administration has threatened to withhold funding from any organisation that promotes “gender ideology”. Federal agencies have been instructed to only recognise a persons sex assigned at birth. Any transgender person detained by the police would then be housed in a space that could lead to extreme risk of physical and sexual violence. The Department of Justice has further been instructed to help agencies reinforce sex-segregated spaces that exclude transgender people. This would exclude transgender individuals from facilities like bathrooms but also from crucial services like shelters for those facing homelessness.

Conclusion

Illiberal democracy has the facade of democracy. The institutions still exist, but are corrupted. Voting still takes place, but there is only one real choice. Donald Trump is in his second term as president. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution is clear:

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once

There has been talk among Republican politicans about Trump running for a third time, however, and he spoken about it himself on more than one occasion. Trump is 79 and might not be physically or mentally capable of running again in 2028, but the organisation around him will still exist. People within the administration have moved quickly to consolidate power and reshape America. They control all branches of government and are entrenching themselves into power. Trump is adored by his base and if he were not at the head of the administration then a replacement might not have the same kind of loyalty. Throughout history dictators have learned that if you cannot be loved by your people then the next best way to rule is through fear. The mobilisation of National Guard troops to American cities has shown this is a method of rule that the administration is comfortable with.