If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.  That’s an old saying that doesn’t need any further explanation.

The Republican Party has frequently given us hints that they are the party of white supremacy seeking to implement an autocracy here in the U.S. if they can manage to gain a majority in both chambers of Congress this year, and in the executive branch in 2024.  Donald Trump made no secret that his goal was to rule, not to preside, and that he has no use for any who are not white-skinned, straight Christian males.  When the Republicans invited Viktor Orbàn, dictator (official title is Prime Minister) of Hungary, to be their keynote speaker at the annual CPAC convention being held this week in Dallas, Texas, there could be little doubt left.  But any remaining shred of doubt was washed away when Orbàn, gave a speech talking his usual racist, homophobic trash-talk and thousands of Republicans gave him a standing ovation.  A standing ovation, my friends.

WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE?????

Are they bored with a system where, at least theoretically, every person can vote, every vote is counted, and in this manner We the People elect the members of government who we believe will best serve our interests?  Are they tired of the relative stability of life in the U.S. as compared to countries like Turkey, Russia, DPRK, and Hungary?  Do they no longer support a free press, the freedom to believe or not believe in any or no deity?  Do they truly wish to return to a nation of slave-owners?  They claim to worship the flag, and to stand strong by the expression in the national anthem, “Land of the brave and home of the free”, and yet they would happily … enthusiastically even, give up that freedom in exchange for an authoritarian rule.

Is it requisite for a strong-arm authoritarian to be obese and show his fist often?

Orbàn recently came under fire in his own nation for a speech in which he declared “we do not want to become peoples of mixed-race.”  That speech led to outrage among his critics and the very public resignation of a long-time advisor who characterized Orbàn’s speech as “a pure Nazi text worthy of Goebbels.”  Anybody care to call me an alarmist for the many times I’ve compared Trump and others to Adolf Hitler?

Orbàn told the audience that they need to “coordinate our troops” in the fight against liberalism, exhorting them to gear up to remove Joe Biden from office (“you have two years to get ready”). The stakes, in his telling, are the very future of our civilization.  I’m surprised, actually, that he didn’t tell them they should overthrow the Biden administration.

“The West is at war with itself. We have seen what kind of future the globalist ruling class has to offer. But we have a different kind of future in mind. The globalists can all go to hell. I have come to Texas.”

The crowd cheered and gave him a standing ovation.  Disgusting.

Freedom of the press is gone in Hungary since Orbàn took over in 2010.  Immigrants are not welcome and Orban built a heavily patrolled barbed wire fence along a stretch of 325 miles that completely cuts off access from three countries:  Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia.  Hungary, once ranked a democracy, has been downgraded to a “hybrid regime” by Freedom House.  There are still elections, but they are heavily manipulated to ensure Orbàn and his cronies remain in charge of the government.  According to Wikipedia …

Orbán has passed laws, amended the constitution, and finally written a new constitution, allowing him to do what he wanted to do. Civic institutions such as courts, universities, and the apparatus necessary for free elections remain, but have been “patiently debilitated, delegitimatized, hollowed out”, controlled by Orbán loyalists. Domination of the media by Orbán prevents the public from hearing critics point of view. In 2022, Orbán’s opponent was given but five minutes on the national television “to make his case to the voters”.

And this is, apparently, what the ‘conservatives’ in this country would like the United States to look like within a few years.  Nothing … not one thing … that I have heard from the mouths of any Republican politicians, has convinced me that they aren’t seeking an authoritarian government where they make all the rules and our freedoms, our fair elections, our voices … simply disappear.

Yes, my friends, I believe it IS a duck.