Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban provides template for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Steve Brannon called Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister and the newfound darling of Fox “News” and the American far right, “Trump before Trump.”

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the right-wing traveling circus, is so enamored with Orban that it held a convention in Budapest recently and featured Orban as a speaker at a recent CPAC event in Texas.

Orban is lionized by the right for his success at dismantling the pillars of democracy in his home country. They applaud his termite-like approach, chewing away the foundations of democracy instead of facing true, fair and open political dialogue. It’s been dubbed “new school despotism, or soft autocracy.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis appears to be another fervent believer in “Orbanism.”

DeSantis’s methodical undoing of the Democratic process and the Orwellian language used to mischaracterize it closely parallel Orban. Both clamor for a return to “Christian” values, stoking fears of a fanciful plot to replace whites by people of color.

Neither define but both condemn “wokeness.” Both claim we can only be free by taking freedom away from others, and both advocate policies that restrict equality to the LGBT community. DeSantis’ “Don’t say gay" bill is similar to one Orban pushed through months earlier. A DeSantis spokesperson said, “We were watching the Hungarians.”

Orban established an “anti-terrorism” police force, gradually expanding its surveillance powers. DeSantis has established an “election security” police unit; the need for which was never justified but whose potential for harm should concern us all.

All authoritarian-minded leaders loathe a free press. Orban has, by administrative decrees, targeted taxes and other strong-armed tactics, virtually eliminated an independent press in his country. “Have your own press,” he advised American conservatives at CPAC.

It is DeSantis' strategy as well. He has been on Fox “News” countless times, but avoids actual press conferences, preferring to make speeches or sign bills at car lots, on farms or at The Villages, venues where he is certain to avoid tough questioning.

Such conduct would have been called out as cowardice a few years ago, but DeSantis doesn’t even try to hide it. Regarding a recent statewide Republican conference that excluded the legitimate press, DeSantis noted “the legacy media outlets” were not welcome.

Orban makes frequent ominous references to George Soros, a favorite target of right wingers everywhere. It is anti-Semitic code implying an elite, liberal establishment they claim is intent on controlling the world. DeSantis, a little smoother around the edges, isn’t that direct, but on two instances when swastikas appeared at right-wing rallies in the state he has been conspicuously silent.

The main energy driving both Orban and DeSantis is a viscous, heartless anti-immigration stance. Both vilify and scapegoat immigrants, characterizing them as criminals, rapists and drug dealers.

Both Orban and DeSantis can abuse their political authority because the respective legislative bodies and courts that might temper their authoritarian maneuvers have been or are being co-opted. Both bodies are no more than enablers, rubber stamping whatever the big boss wants.

Orban has emasculated or outright eliminated agencies that might contest his power grab. DeSantis undermines home rule, and populates state agencies with yes men like Richard Corcoran and Dr. Joseph Ladapo, whose loyalty is to him, not to our state.

Like Orban, DeSantis has seized on times of political, societal and financial unease to divide us and to pursue an anti-democratic path to advance his own political ambitions.

It will be up to the Hungarians to stop Orban. It will be up to Florida voters to stop DeSantis.

Greg McGann is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. He lives in Gainesville.

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Greg McGann: Hungary's Viktor Orban is template for Gov. Ron DeSantis