Orban Seeks to Channel Trump in Sweeping Crackdown Before Ballot

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he plans to impose sanctions against independent media and civil society groups that accept foreign funding, in an escalation of a long-running campaign to suppress dissenting voices before key elections.

Orban has praised President Donald Trump’s plan to shut down the US Agency for International Development, which in late 2022 launched a program to help strengthen democracy and civil society in central Europe. It included the financing of non-government organizations and independent media in Hungary.