“I really feel that Soros, in many ways, is the biggest danger to the entire Western world.” So argued British right-wing populist Nigel Farage in 2018 on the U.S. right-wing TV network Fox News.[1] Though talking in the singular, Farage was certainly not alone in expressing such resentment against the 89-year old Hungarian-American Jew, George Soros, known as both a billionaire financier and investor and as the “open society” philanthropist and democracy proponent. Soros’s business interests and political activities are indeed inseparable: he used the money he made as an investor in the golden days of financialized capitalism to found a world-renowned university and to build a global organization, the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which plays a preeminent role in promoting liberal democratic values the world over. While supporters laud him for the role OSF and its allies played in stabilizing liberal democracy in Eastern Europe after the fall of state socialism, critics accuse him of aggressively exporting democracy, promoting liberalism, and undermining the sovereignty of nation-states by using his economic power to influence local politics and policies around the globe.
In many corners of the world, Soros has become a convenient scapegoat for all kinds of maladies, both real and imagined, allowing nationalist politicians to establish the fiction of a Soros-driven liberal-globalist conspiracy. Today, anti-Soros rhetoric is flourishing globally, including in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. But over the past decade, attacks on Soros have become particularly vicious in the two countries where he has sought to intervene in a sustained and strategic manner: his native Hungary (which he left in 1947) and the United States (where he moved in 1956).
The dramatic escalation of attacks has sparked inquiries into potential links between anti-Soros rhetoric in the two countries, focusing on U.S. political consultants with ties to both U.S. Republicans and Hungary’s ruling national-populist Fidesz party. That speculation seemed confirmed when U.S. political consultant George Birnbaum claimed, in a Swiss article published in 2019, that he and his colleague Arthur Finkelstein, a Republican pollster and campaign strategist, had invented the Soros-bogeyman for Hungary’s strongman, Viktor Orbán, for whom they began working in 2008.[2]
This article will take a somewhat different tack, by investigating the rhetorical strategies that have helped establish Soros as a public enemy in the U.S. and Hungary. By exploring the frames through which Soros has been forged into a folk devil, we can better understand the historical legacies of colonialism and antisemitism that energize and give meaning to anti-Sorosism, as well as its resonance in national-populist discourse and with broader audiences. We focus on the iconic image of the “puppet master,” which evokes themes of domination and conspiracy, and allows illiberal politicians to harness popular support for nationalist projects.
The “Puppet Master” in the U.S.
In the U.S., anti-Soros rhetoric is spread widely by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News. Although the outlet had already targeted Soros through the 2000s, a watershed moment came in 2010, when then-Fox News host Glenn Beck ran a three-piece series, “The Puppet Master,” depicting Soros as a shadowy conspirator who secretly rules the world. Tapping age-old antisemitic imagery and stereotypes, Beck argued that Soros aimed to undermine the political and economic systems of the U.S. and other countries through his Open Society Foundations, one of the biggest private funders of pro-democracy and human-rights movements worldwide. The show’s audiovisual elements reinforced the message powerfully, with crime thriller music and puppeteers pulling strings.
Although Beck’s program received substantial criticism,[3] it catalyzed the proliferation of anti-Soros discourses on Fox News, with hosts and pundits regularly repeating the same allegations. However, it wasn’t until Donald Trump’s presidency that the narrative truly gained momentum. While Fox News hosts and pundits had long argued that Soros wants “open borders,”[4] as Trump made the fight against Central American immigration a core part of his agenda, conspiracy theories accusing Soros of sponsoring and organizing migration to the U.S. also exploded. Today, such allegations are made not just by right-wing media outlets, but by prominent Republican politicians, including the president himself.[5]
In the lead-up to the U.S. 2018 midterm elections, Central American migrants heading towards the U.S. border—described by mainstream U.S. media and politicians with the loaded term “migrant caravan”—were said to be financed by Soros. Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz tweeted a video showing money being distributed to a crowd in a Spanish-speaking country, suggesting it was evidence of Soros funding the “caravan.”[6] When a reporter asked Trump that October whether he believed Soros was sponsoring the “caravan,” he replied, “I wouldn’t be surprised. A lot of people say yes.”[7] The same month, in a speech in Missoula, Trump, who also described the migrants as an “invasion,” declared, “a lot of money has been passing to people to come up and try and get to the border.”[8] Trump also shared Gaetz’s video, though without a reference to Soros.[9]
The Bogeyman in Hungary
By the time mainstream U.S. politicians began portraying Soros as the mastermind behind mass immigration, the same accusation had already been leveled at Soros by leading representatives of Hungary’s Fidesz party. Soros had been in Fidesz’s crosshairs since 2013 but the campaign against him went full blast after the European migration crisis in 2015, when Hungarian officials suggested that Soros had authored the European Commission’s plan to resettle refugees from the Southern European frontier region to member states that had not received refugees.[10] According to this plan, Hungary should have accepted 1,294 refugees who previously entered the European Union through Greece or Italy. While the Hungarian government vehemently contested the proposal through the usual diplomatic channels, it also sought to score domestic political points by portraying the opposition as being in cahoots with anti-patriotic European elites. To achieve this, it solicited the help of the late Republican consultant Arthur Finkelstein, whose approach has come to be referred to as “rejectionist voting,” the “Finkelstein formula,” or “Finkel-think.” Over several decades, Finkelstein developed a simple but efficient campaign strategy, urging his clients to demonize their rivals rather than promote their own programmatic vision. Finkelstein strongly believed in the ancient propaganda technique of repetition and used it to imprint emotionally resonant, iconic, and polarizing images and messages in the public’s memory. This campaign strategy was a perfect fit for Orbán’s political strategy and persona.
After his first prime ministerial term ended with defeat in the 2002 parliamentary elections, Orbán’s rhetoric increasingly relied on a fundamentally Manichean, us-versus-them vision of politics as a battle between patriotic and globalist forces. This worldview became especially pronounced after Fidesz’s landslide victory in the 2010 parliamentary elections, when Orbán set about transforming Hungary from a liberal democracy into a semi-authoritarian regime. His government’s moves to capture independent institutions and rewrite the constitution, electoral, and media laws drew heavy criticism from the EU.[11] Orbán responded by depicting the EU as a quasi-colonial bureaucracy seeking to undermine nations’ sovereignty. This charge, which evoked both Hungary’s historical subjugation by the Soviet Union and the material decline of its traditional industrial regions and rural heartlands after joining the EU in 2004,[12] resonated with Fidesz’s base. However, to be truly effective, Orbán’s anti-colonial narrative required a flesh-and-blood figure to blame. Finkelstein, Birnbaum recalled, suggested Soros as a suitable scapegoat, despite the fact that in the 1980s, as a young and originally liberal politician, Orbán had himself received financial support from the philanthropist.
The campaign latched on to an op-ed Soros published on the opinion website Project Syndicate, urging reforms of the EU’s asylum system.[13] This article became the key reference of the government’s vast, nationwide anti-Soros campaign—estimated to have cost Hungarian taxpayers more than 40 million euros in 2017 alone.[14] According to the government’s narrative, migration to Europe is being financed and organized by Soros, who collaborates with a group of faceless EU bureaucrats to undermine the Christian identity and sovereignty of European states by turning them into “immigrant countr[ies].”[15] In recent years, Hungarian authorities have publicized this message relentlessly through billboards, TV ads, political speeches, pamphlets, surveys, feigned public consultations, and the heavily biased coverage of the pro-government press that dominates the national media market. At the campaign’s peak, posters featuring Soros’s grinning face and the message “Don’t let Soros have the last laugh” flooded the country.[16] And in 2018, Fidesz used its two-thirds parliamentary majority to pass its controversial “Stop Soros” law, criminalizing NGO workers who assist asylum-seekers.
The Discursive Anatomy of Anti-Soros Rhetoric
Anti-Soros narratives in the U.S. and Hungary differ primarily in terms of scope. While in the U.S., anti-Soros rhetoric is just one component of variegated right-wing discourses, in Hungary, it is the dominant language of the government and its media. Yet the rhetoric in both countries largely overlaps. Comparing 17 Fox News depictions of Soros in the U.S. from the late 2000s onward with 90 anti-Soros articles published since 2016 by the Hungarian pro-government propaganda website Origo.hu reveals significant similarities—particularly with regards to framing.
According to linguist George Lakoff, frames are mental constructs that can be activated by words.[17] The mechanism is simple: when we hear a term, it evokes frames in our mind. The word “freedom,” for instance, activates the frames of liberation, autonomy, and independence. This is largely an automatic process. In other words, it is very difficult—if not impossible—to resist frames.
In our analysis of anti-Soros discourse in the U.S. and Hungary,[18] we found that both evoke identical frames, which are themselves interconnected. These include the frames of: (1) clandestine conspiracy; (2) excessive power and world domination; (3) the puppet master; (4) far-left radicalism; and (5) victimization.
Clandestine Conspiracy
Fox News and Origo frequently utilize terms that attach the frame of clandestine conspiracy to Soros. On Fox News, for instance, the expression “under the radar”[19] activates frames suggesting that Soros’s activity is obscure, underground, and illegal.
The frame is also evoked and strengthened through insinuation: “The really frightening thing,” one Fox News host declared, is that “most Americans have never even heard of George Soros.”[20] Fox New speakers also referred to “the Soros group” and “Soros and his operations,”[21] to invoke the frame of organized, subversive activity.
Phrases that represent Soros as masterminding a gigantic scheme can also activate this frame. One pundit, for instance, described OSF’s work as “an incredibly well oiled, brilliantly orchestrated machine.”[22] In some instances, the word “conspiracy” is used explicitly, as when another Fox News guest said, “This is a George Soros conspiracy, and it’s time we wake up, expose them, and stand up and fight for our country because that is what is at stake here.”[23]
In Hungary, the clandestine conspiracy frame is evoked mainly through compound nouns—a rhetorical device often used in political propaganda.[24] In everyday usage, compound nouns usually arise naturally and out of necessity when speakers have to name something new (as with technological innovations like “typewriter,” “earphones,” or “headset”). In political propaganda, however, compound nouns are invented and deployed strategically in order to shape the public discourse and thinking. But listeners are unlikely to notice this maneuver, and typically will accept that the new word, being a noun, is simply naming and identifying an existing thing. As a result, compound words function as a powerful tool in propaganda, constructing reality in novel ways while grammatically hiding how they can distort or misrepresent that which they describe.[25]
In this way, the term “Soros-plan” became the central plank of the Hungarian government’s propaganda campaign. When, in 2015, Soros published his op-ed calling upon the EU “to accept at least a million asylum-seekers annually for the foreseeable future,” Hungary’s government used it to charge that Soros himself aimed to bring millions of migrants into Europe. The term “Soros-plan” became the government’s shorthand reference for this fabricated allegation, which suggests that Soros has a carefully planned agenda that he seeks to realize, step by step, in a secretive manner. And because the term is a compound noun, listeners can take the construct for granted.
Origo articles also frequently refer to the “Soros-network”[26] and identify various global or local actors who criticize the Hungarian government as “Soros-agents.”[27] Such terms also clearly evoke the global clandestine conspiracy frame in connection with Soros’s name.
Excessive Power and World Domination
The anti-Soros frames activated in U.S. and Hungarian discourses often intertwine, combining, for example, the frame of clandestine conspiracy with that of excessive power and world domination. When Fox News interviewed Nigel Farage in 2018, he exemplified this, saying, “The Open Society organization that he funds has already spent $15 billion in campaigning… This is an organized attempt, on a huge scale, to undermine nation-states, to undermine democracy and fundamentally change the makeup demographically of the whole of the European continent.”[28]
Beyond ignoring the fact that OSF is not in fact run solely by Soros, the reference suggests that Soros wants to control Europe, the U.S., or perhaps the whole world—a widespread frame in the U.S. discourse. “Soros really does believe wealth controls culture. And he wants to really control the political scene in the United States and the media,”[29] argued one pundit. Glenn Beck doubled up on superlatives to highlight his claim that Soros basically rules the world, suggesting Soros “controls most of the most powerful.”[30] Another Fox News host argued that Soros has the power to destroy anyone and everyone: “So you can see how powerful this guy Soros has become. He can smear anyone he wants in a variety of ways.”[31]
This frame is widely used in Hungary as well. Sometimes it’s explicit, as when an expert stated on public radio “George Soros wants to rule the world.”[32] But more often, the idea is conveyed indirectly through framing, with references to the “Soros-empire,”[33] “Soros-world,”[34] the “Soros-lobby,”[35] and the “Soros-pact.”[36]
The Puppet Master
While Glenn Beck used the term “puppet master” directly, this construct is more typically evoked as a frame in the U.S. discourse. “He is the real Wizard of Oz—the man behind the curtain,”[37] said one Fox News guest, characterizing Soros as a manipulator working behind the scenes. Similarly, Fox News references to “the Soros-State Department unity effort”[38] and the “Soros-occupied State Department”[39] imply that Soros has secretly taken charge of U.S. foreign affairs. (The blatancy of the latter example forced Fox News to respond to accusations of antisemitism.[40])
The channel’s coverage also included charges that politicians and civil society actors were “being held in the pocket by a fabulously rich guy like George Soros”[41] and “taking orders from the Soros group,”[42] or that Soros “can demand that politicians running for office do what he tells them to do.”[43] Similarly, Fox News speakers accused mainstream U.S. media of “basically tak[ing] exactly what Soros gives them and spit[ting] it out over the airwaves.”[44] Finally, Trump himself tweeted that people protesting Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court were “paid for by Soros and others.”[45]
In Hungary, words that evoke the puppet master frame also emerge: “The Soros-network continues to pull the strings at the European Parliament”[46]; “The Soros-foundation has the European Commission on a string”[47]; “George Soros’s long arm reaches into the Dutch public TV”[48]; and “This is how George Soros traps Brussels [i.e. the EU] in a mesh.”[49]
Hungarian anti-Soros rhetoric frequently appends a reference to Soros against anyone it targets, thereby activating the puppet master frame. Independent and opposition media outlets become “Soros-blogs,”[50] “Soros-media,”[51] and “Soros-propaganda.”[52] Political dissidents are portrayed as “Soros-activists.”[53] “Soros-university”[54] refers to Central European University, a prominent graduate school that was founded by Soros and was forced to leave Hungary in 2018. The term “Soros-money”[55] stands for OSF grants, while NGOs that have received OSF funding and criticize the Hungarian government are called “Soros-organizations.”[56] The term “Soros-list”[57] refers to Hungarian opposition parties. The report MEP Judith Sargentini presented to the European Parliament in 2018, which condemned Hungary’s anti-democratic turn, is now the “Soros-Sargentini report”[58] or simply the “Soros-report.”[59] And ships carrying refugees and migrants across the Mediterranean are called “Soros-ships,”[60] just as Hungarian pro-government media described Latin American refugees and asylum seekers traveling to the U.S. as the “Soros-express.”[61]
These hyphenated compound words, relying on the logic of nominalization, allow speakers to simultaneously discredit Soros and critics of the Hungarian government. By portraying Soros as a dangerous world-conspirator and suggesting that critics are puppets in his hands, pro-governmental figures and media can avoid engaging their arguments. It’s enough to associate them with Soros and unleash the power of ad hominem argumentation.
Far-Left Radicalism
Only one frame is limited primarily to one country: the frame of far-left radicalism, which is widely used in the U.S., but only sporadically—at least currently—in Hungary.
In the U.S. the frame of radicalism is sometimes deployed without reference to “Leftism.” On Fox News, Soros has been referred to as “an extremist who wants open borders,”[62] a “wealthy radical,”[63] a “genuinely radical billionaire,”[64] and a “shadowy radical.”[65] Occasionally, he has even been discussed in the frame of terrorism, as when a Fox News pundit declared that “he funds these things, as your chart points out, and open borders and even radical Islamic groups that defend suicide bombers.”[66]
More often, he is specifically presented as a far-left radical, with descriptions on Fox News that include a “socialist activist,”[67] a “far left billionaire,”[68] a “far-left finance guy,”[69] as well as “a man who wants to impose a radical left agenda on America.”[70] One host argued, “Soros wants a far-left country and will do what he has to do to financially get it.”[71] Another claimed President Barack Obama “wasn’t socialist enough for Soros.”[72]
This frame has also been employed in Hungary, but far less frequently. In 2018, Origo described anti-government protests as “The Soros-network’s far-left activists rampag[ing] through Budapest.”[73] A demonstrator taken into custody was identified “as an active member of the Soros-network” who was “responsible for the perpetration of far-left violence.”[74]
Victimization
All the preceding frames support and reinforce another construction commonly used in both countries: the portrayal of Soros as a victimizer. A Fox News quote discussed above—“This is a George Soros conspiracy, and it’s time we wake up, expose them, and stand up and fight for our country because that is what is at stake here”—set Soros against the entire population through the use of plural personal pronoun “we” and the possessive form “our.” Importantly, the reference to “our country” doesn’t merely construct Soros as a national enemy, but also excludes him, an American citizen, from the national community.
Such personal pronouns and possessive forms frequently cast Soros as a menace to the national community—and its key interests and values—in U.S. discourse. When one Fox News host railed about Soros and “open borders,” she noted, “Sovereignty is out the window—all those principles we hold dear as Americans, they are subverted in that world.”[75] Another host charged, “He’s the extremely wealthy liberal billionaire who wants to take away your Second Amendment rights.”[76] Here, the possessive “your” implies that Soros attacks and victimizes not only the community as a whole, but its individual members too. Fox News charges about Soros’s “anti-American agenda,”[77] or how “he really hates [the U.S.]”[78] are also commonplace.
In Hungary, this frame is activated mainly through military metaphors. As George Lakoff and Mark Johnson have argued,[79] human thinking is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. Consequently, metaphors can powerfully shape our ideas about a particular object, in ways we may not consciously realize.
It’s therefore noteworthy that Origo metaphorically constructs Soros as an army commander, directing a military force of scholars, NGO workers, politicians, and policymakers who criticize (or are simply independent from) the Hungarian government. Within Origo, such critics and rivals are called “Soros-soldiers,”[80] “mercenaries of Soros,”[81] or the “Soros-army.”[82]
Sometimes unrelated local and international political developments are associated with or attributed to Soros and discussed as military exercises. In this way Origo accused “the Soros-empire” of “occupying the Balkans,”[83] described a court ruling concerning a Syrian refugee as a “Soros-defeat,”[84] and depicted opposition parties’ electoral campaign strategies as Soros “deploy[ing] his local allies.”[85]
Such metaphors not only present Soros as an aggressor but suggest that he specifically victimizes Hungarians, as evidenced by the Origo headlines: “George Soros’s mercenary troops continuously attack Hungary both at home and in Brussels”[86]; “Soros’s soldiers conspire against Hungary”[87]; and “Soros is not giving it up: he again targets Hungary.”[88]
Globalism and Antisemitism
Taken individually or together, this suite of frames don’t merely cast Soros in a negative light, but portray him as a powerful, shadowy, and ruthless conspirator who uses all the means at his disposal to extend his influence and subdue those who stand in his way. And the iconic figure of the culturally rootless, morally corrupt, and self-serving global investor resonates powerfully at a moment when national politics around the world are increasingly defined as a contest between globalists and nationalists.
Soros’s involvement in currency speculation (especially his infamous bets against the Thai baht and the British pound) allowed politicians to blame him not only for exploiting weak monetary policies but for ruining whole economies and triggering cascading events such as the Asian financial crisis of 1997. The same is true for his political interventions. Financial support from OSF to pro-democracy groups such as Otpor, a student organization that fought Slobodan Milošević’s authoritarian rule in Serbia, and OSF’s support in transferring know-how from Serbia to Georgia (where a similar struggle ensued to unseat strongman Eduard Shevardnadze), established Soros’s reputation as a democracy-exporter. This gave authoritarian leaders the ammunition to deflect attention from their governmental records and cast Soros as a scapegoat for their countries’ problems.
The fact that Soros-the-investor and Soros-the-democratizer can’t be hermetically separated is all the more convenient, since it legitimizes rhetoric portraying the “open society” as just another ploy to dispossess and subjugate vulnerable populations. Soros, in other words, can easily be portrayed as a modern day colonizer, deploying modern mercenaries to open new markets for exploitation.
While in Eastern Europe anti-Soros discourse clearly draws on the historical legacy of foreign domination, it also feeds on antisemitism and, more particularly, the association of Jews with economic power and political influence. At times, the hatred directed at Soros is so intense that pundits and journalists have drawn a parallel[89] between him and Emmanuel Goldstein, the enemy of the totalitarian government in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Reading Orwell’s description of the Two Minutes Hate against comments average Hungarians made about Soros to journalists in 2017[90] and 2018[91] suggests that the parallel isn’t exaggerated:
Nineteen Eighty-Four:
“The Hate has started. As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed onto the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience. The little sandy-haired woman gave a squeak of mingled fear and disgust.”[92]
Vox Pops, Hungary, 2017 and 2018:
“I don’t consider him a human being, let me just say this.”
“He has such a toad face.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four:
“…It was a lean Jewish face…”[93]
Vox Pops, Hungary, 2017 and 2018:
“Dirty Jew.”
“George Soros is a peddler.”
“Judisch.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four:
“…the sight or even the thought of Goldstein produced fear and anger automatically.”[94]
Vox Pops, Hungary, 2017 and 2018:
“Cause I hate him.”
“I hope he kicks the bucket before the elections.”
“Cause if Viktor Orbán authorized me to shoot George Soros, I would go and just shoot him. That’s it.”
While these vignettes don’t necessarily reflect the views of the majority of Hungarians, they highlight the power of the anti-Soros discourse to evoke antisemitic hatred and fear.
Soros, importantly, was not unknown prior to Fidesz’s propaganda campaign. While his image in Hungary was far from homogeneous, he’d already been targeted by István Csurka, a leading right-wing intellectual who, as the head of the prominent Magyar Fórum weekly, played a preeminent role in reviving antisemitism in the post-socialist period.
Starting in the early 1990s, Csurka portrayed Soros as helping lead a globalist conspiracy (which he referred to as the “New York-Tel-Aviv axis”[95]). In 1992, Magyar Fórum published a piece that accused Soros of seeking to colonize and exploit Hungary.[96] Although the party Csurka went on to found had relatively little success, his antisemitic ideas circulated widely, and were picked up by young intellectuals who would found the much more influential far-right Jobbik party. For Hungarians who bore the brunt of the transition to capitalism—and for whom Leftism was generally discredited—antisemitism offered another idiom besides nationalism to express deep-seated grievances with capitalism.[97] And for anti-liberal intellectuals and politicians, it offered an avenue for discrediting liberal opponents. Thus, although Fidesz shunned explicit antisemitism, it survived as a relatively influential counter-discourse on the Right, one that has historically often been combined with ethno-nationalism at moments when Rightist elites need popular support.
It’s no coincidence that the five frames we highlighted above also played a central role in antisemitic propaganda between the two World Wars and during World War II. This is also true in Hungary, where the revival of antisemitism after 1989, and its continued presence, energizes Fidesz’s revamped anti-Sorosism and lends it credibility on the Right.
What’s especially interesting about Hungary’s current anti-Soros discourse is how its proponents have managed to tap into historically sedimented antisemitic clichés while avoiding accusations of antisemitism. Their main rhetorical strategy is to use Soros’s name as a metonymy—a figure of speech where a specific word stands in for a larger idea—allowing them to claim that they aren’t talking about Jews in general but Soros in particular, even as their references clearly evoke antisemitic tropes about rich and power-hungry Jews engaged in clandestine conspiracies.[98] Hungary’s government has also developed friendly ties with its Israeli counterpart[99] and good relations with Hungary’s Orthodox Jewish community, which it uses to parry accusations of antisemitism.[100]
Though overt antisemitism may be less widespread in mainstream U.S. political and media discourses, the antisemitic dimension of U.S. anti-Soros campaigns is significant as well. In the U.S., anti-Soros rhetoric seems to reflect past purges against “anti-American” traitors. Besides evoking antisemitic tropes of Judeo–Bolshevism and the Communist conspirator Jew, the frame of far-left radicalism also activates historically embedded enemy-constructs, such as the memories of the first and second Red Scare (which also played on antisemitic imagery) and the Red Menace narratives of the Cold War.
Opportunity in Polarization
There is another, more universal parallel between the two countries: how anti-Soros discourse functions especially well in highly polarized political contexts where trust between rival political tribes has all but disappeared and paranoia has become the dominant logic guiding their interactions.
Paranoia is certainly not unique to the U.S. and Hungary. Anthropologists have argued that popular suspicions of power may be grounded in the nontransparent ways in which top power brokers operate, and the general lack of accountability that characterizes contemporary technocratic governments.[101] Political theorists have similarly described how strengthening states’ surveillance capabilities—rendering the ruled much more legible to the rulers while the operations of power become more opaque—generates paranoid political cultures.[102]
However, what we have in mind is more specific, concerning how conspiracy theories can become the dominant means of legitimizing illiberal rule in highly polarized contexts. Polarization already became a key feature of U.S. politics under George W. Bush’s War on Terror, and it has certainly not declined since Trump’s election in 2016. In Hungary, extreme polarization began after a major political crisis in 2006,[103] when the socialist prime minister was caught in a leaked speech admitting that his party lied to win the elections,[104] and has since been exacerbated by Fidesz’s authoritarian rule since 2010. Conspiracy theories like anti-Sorosism—positing that the sovereignty, health, unity, or even survival of the nation is threatened by invisible, powerful foreign actors—don’t just evoke fear but establish a fundamental distinction between the friends and enemies of the people.
This Manichean worldview calls for a politics of securitization (including the deployment of emergency power, or even states of exception) and authorizes the harassment of internal enemies, as well as efforts to cripple or overtake democratic institutions that stand in the way of illiberal politicians. This is exactly what happened in post-coup Turkey and post-refugee crisis Hungary. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s efforts to purge his opponents and his successful bid to enhance presidential powers[105] have received much publicity. In Hungary, the anti-Soros discourse has also been used to justify exceptionally harsh measures against asylum-seekers seeking to enter the country, while the “Stop Soros” legal package effectively criminalized humanitarian support for refugees.
However, such conspiracy theories are also effective in more routine electoral struggles. The figure of the foreign agent has anchored the electoral strategies of Erdoğan and Putin,[106] and more recently, Orbán. Their general strategy—to rely on an ideologically cohesive minority of core supporters, while keeping the opposition divided, and compelling independents to retreat into passivity—is served well by tales of a secretive enemy manipulating local puppets and always ready to strike. The never-ending conspiracy keeps core supporters agitated, ready to defend their country and leader. The atmosphere of paranoia that settles over the political community as a result of the “constant campaigning”[107] becomes contagious among supporters, but slowly infects even those who were initially skeptical. Simultaneously, it profoundly repulses the unaffiliated. Yet this reaction may counterintuitively benefit authoritarian leaders too, as independents retreat from electoral politics.
Of course, authoritarian populist strategies that rely on the conspiratorial mode of reasoning also have their weaknesses. Supporters may grow tired of scapegoating, and a strong opposition with a persuasive program and sound strategy stands a chance of reawakening apathetic voters. To avoid this prospect, authoritarian leaders actively seek to discredit and divide in order to safeguard their rule. They promote conspiracy theories, creating situations in which opponents must compete instead of cooperating and deliberately downgrading politics into a mud-slinging contest. The dirtier the game, the better, since it deters people from entering the contest.
Opponents face the difficult tasks of recovering their credibility, forming credible and durable alliances, and reaching disaffected audiences. The whole process resembles a vicious cycle. Once a certain depth is reached, it becomes difficult to avoid being drawn lower by the current.
Endnotes
[1] Logan Smith, “11PM Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream 20/06/18 | Fox news | June 20, 2018,” YouTube Video, 21 June 2018, https://youtu.be/PzVHLRCBptw?t=2228.
[2] Hannes Grassegger, “The Unbelievable Story Of The Plot Against George Soros,” BuzzFeed News, January 20, 2019, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hnsgrassegger/george-soros-conspiracy-finkelstein-birnbaum-orban-netanyahu.
[3] Brian Stelter, “Glenn Beck’s Attack on George Soros Draw Heat,” The New York Times, November 11, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/us/12beck.html.
[4] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power; Fox News, “Is the American Way of Life in Danger?” May 24, 2010, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/is-the-american-way-of-life-in-danger.
[5] Ben Lorber, “Taking Aim at Multiracial Democracy. Antisemitism, White Nationalism, and Anti-Immigrant Racism in the Era of Trump,” Political Research Associates, October 22, 2019, https://www.politicalresearch.org/2019/10/22/taking-aim-multiracial-dem….
[6] Dara Lind, “Trump just Tweeted out a Cryptic Video of People Getting Money in Spanish,” Vox, October 18, 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/10/18/17996682/trump-tweet-video-spanish.
[7] Bess Levin, “Trump: ‘A Lot of People Say’ George Soros is Funding the Migrant Caravan,” Vanity Fair, October 31, 2018, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/10/donald-trump-george-soros-caravan.
[8] Sam Wolfson, “Are Donald Trump’s Claims about the Caravan of 7,000 Migrants Accurate?” The Guardian, October 24, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/22/fact-check-trumps-claims-migrant-caravan.
[9] Dara Lind, “Trump just Tweeted out a Cryptic Video of People Getting Money in Spanish,” Vox, October 18, 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/10/18/17996682/trump-tweet-video-spanish.
[10] Prime Minister’s Office, “The Quota System Has Failed,” website of the Hungarian government, September 29, 2017, https://www.kormany.hu/en/prime-minister-s-office/news/the-quota-system-has-failed.
[11] András Bozóki and Dániel Hegedűs, “An Externally Constrained Hybrid Regime: Hungary in the European Union,” Democratization, April 13, 2017, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2018.1455664; Patrick Kingsley, “As West Fears the Rise of Autocrats, Hungary Shows What’s Possible,” The New York Times, February 10, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/10/world/europe/hungary-orban-democracy-far-right.html; Zack Beauchamp, “It Happened There: How Democracy Died in Hungary,” Vox, September 13, 2018, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/13/17823488/hungary-democracy-authoritarianism-trump.
[12] Don Kalb, “Upscaling Illiberalism: Class, Contradiction, and the Rise and Rise of the Populist Right in Post-socialist Central Europe,” Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 11: 303–321.
[13] George Soros, “Rebuilding the Asylum System,” Project Syndicate, September 26, 2015, https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rebuilding-refugee-asylum-system-by-george-soros-2015-09.
[14] Katalin Erdélyi, “Hungarian Government Spent €40 Million on Anti-Soros Propaganda in 2017,” Átlátszó, February 4, 2018, https://english.atlatszo.hu/2018/02/04/hungarian-government-spent-e40-million-on-anti-soros-propaganda-in-2017/.
[15] MTI, “Soros has Announced Cooperation Between the Pro-Immigration Forces,” Kormany.hu, February 13, 2019, https://www.kormany.hu/en/government-spokesperson/news/soros-has-announced-cooperation-between-the-pro-immigration-forces.
[16] Nick Thorpe, “Hungary Vilifies Financier Soros with Crude Poster Campaign,” BBC News, July 10, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40554844.
[17] George Lakoff, Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know your Values and Frame the Debate: the Essential Guide for Progressives (White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green, 2004).
[18] All the Hungarian excerpts that are quoted in this article were translated by the authors.
[19] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power; Fox News, “Factor Investigation: George Soros,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/factor-investigation-george-soros; Watchdog.org, “Taking a Look Inside the Secret Leftist Billionaires Club,” Fox News, May 3, 2014, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/taking-a-look-inside-the-secret-leftist-billionaires-club.
[20] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power.
[21] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power; Joe Crin, “Tucker Carlson Tonight April 5, 2018,” YouTube Video, April 6, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1317&v=zWQvpjYcOIA.
[22] Fox News, “Factor Investigation: George Soros,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/factor-investigation-george-soros.
[23] Penny Star, “Sen. David Perdue: Republicans Need to ‘Grow Up’ and Confront ‘Paid Activists’,” Breitbart, October 4, 2018, https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/04/david-perdue-republicans-need-grow-up-confront-paid-activists/.
[24] See for example: Markus Rheindorf and Ruth Wodak, “Borders, Fences, and Limits—Protecting Austria From Refugees: Metadiscursive Negotiation of Meaning in the Current Refugee Crisis,” Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 2018: VOL. 16, NOS. 1–2, 15–38, https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2017.1302032.
[25] On the power of nominalization see for instance: Roger Fowler, Language in the News. Discourse and Ideology in the Press (London: Routledge, 1991).
[26] MTI, “A Soros-hálózat csalásra, hazudozásra képezi ki a migránsokat” [The Soros-Network Trains Migrants to Cheat and Lie], Origo, February 22, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20180222-a-soros-halozat-hazudozasra-csalasra-kepzi-ki-a-migransokat.html.
[27] Origo, “Soros György Keze a Holland Állami Televízióig is Elér” [George Soros’s Long Arm Also Reaches into Dutch Public TV], November 10, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20181109-holland-nos-soros-cenzura.html.
[28] Logan Smith, “11PM Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream 20/06/18 | Fox news | June 20, 2018,” YouTube Video, 21 June 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzVHLRCBptw.
[29] Fox News, “’Factor Investigation’: George Soros,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/factor-investigation-george-soros.
[30] Fox News, “Glenn Beck: The Puppet Master,” November 10, 2010, https://www.foxnews.com/story/glenn-beck-the-puppet-master.amp.
[31] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power.
[32] MTI, “Ifj. Lomnici Zoltán: Soros György Világuralomra Tör” [Zoltán Lomnici, Jr.: George Soros Wants to Rule the World], Origo, October 29, 2017, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20171029-ifj-lomnici-zoltan-soros-gyorgy-vilaguralomra-tor.html.
[33] Origo, “A Magyar Soros-birodalom most a Kultúra Elfoglalására Készül” [Now, the Hungarian Soros-empire is Preparing to Occupy Culture], July 7, 2019, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20190706-soros-kultura-tamogatas.html.
[34] Bálint Bordács, “A Soros-egyetem Elismerte: Senki Sem Üldözte el őket Magyarországról” [The Soros-University Admitted: Nobody is Forcing Them Out of Hungary], Origo, September 15, 2019, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20190915-soros-egyetem.html.
[35] Bálint Bordács, “Súlyos Vereséget Szenvedett a Hazai Soros-lobbi” [The Domestic Soros-Lobby Suffered a Massive Defeat], Origo, July 4, 2019, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20190704-elbukta-a-pert-az-aurora-uzemeltetoje.html.
[36] MTI, “Hivatalos: Csehország Sem Kér a Soros-paktumból” [Official: The Czech Republic Also Says No to the Soros-Pact], Origo, November 14, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20181114-soros-paktum-csehorszag-elutasitas-migracio.html.
[37] Fox News, “Will George Soros Buy the Presidential Election of 2008?” September 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/will-george-soros-buy-the-presidential-election-of-2008.
[38] Joe Crin, “Tucker Carlson Tonight April 5, 2018,” YouTube Video, April 6, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1317&v=zWQvpjYcOIA.
[39] USA Today, “Fox Bans Lou Dobbs’ Guest over George Soros Conspiracy Theory,” October 29, 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/10/29/lou-dobbs-controversy-fox-bans-george-soros-conspiracy-theory-guest/1804634002/.
[40] Hayley Miller, “Fox Business Condemns Lou Dobbs Guest Who Pushed Migrant Caravan Conspiracy Theory,” HuffPost, October 28, 2018, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-business-lou-dobbs-chris-farrell_n_5bd5ebc1e4b055bc948d15b5.
[41] Fox News, “’Factor Investigation’: George Soros,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/factor-investigation-george-soros.
[42] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power.
[43] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power.
[44] Fox News, “’Factor Investigation’: George Soros,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/factor-investigation-george-soros.
[45] Jane Coaston, “Trump Repeats a George Soros Conspiracy Theory Right Before Kavanaugh Vote,” Vox, October 5, 2018, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940706/trump-soros-kavanaugh-twitter-vote.
[46] Origo, “Továbbra is a Soros-hálózat Mozgatja a Szálakat az Európai Parlamentben” [The Soros-Network Continues to Pull the Strings at the European Parliament], July 7, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20180707-a-soroshalozat-mozgatja-a-szalakat-az-europai-parlamentben.html.
[47] MTI, “A Soros-alapítvány Dróton Rángatja az Európai Bizottságot” [The Soros-Foundation has the European Commission on a String], Origo, June 22, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20180622-hollik-a-sorosalapitvany-droton-rangatja-az-europai-bizottsagot-is.html.
[48] Origo, “Soros György Keze a Holland “Állami Televízióig is Elér” [George Soros’s Long Arm Also Reaches into Dutch Public TV], November 10, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20181109-holland-nos-soros-cenzura.html.
[49] Origo, “Így hálózza be Brüsszelt Soros György” [This Is How George Soros Traps Brussels in a Mesh], October 21, 2017, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20171020-soros-gyorgy-befolyas-brusszelben.html.
[50] Bálint Bordács, “Már Megint Hazudott a Soros-blog” [The Soros-Blog Lied Yet Again], Origo, April 11, 2019, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20190411-munkasszallo-hajlektalanszallo-444.html.
[51] Origo, “Előre Tudták a Soros-médiumok, Kit Kell Filmezni, hol a Provokátor” [The Soros-Media Knew Beforehand Whom They Should Film, Where is the Provocateur], July 22, 2017, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20170722-elore-tudtak-a-soros-mediumok-hol-a-provokator.html.
[52] Origo, “Így Hazudozik a Soros-propaganda” [This Is How the Soros-Propaganda Is Telling Lies], April 7, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20180405-igy-hazudik-soros-erdekben-a-washington-post.html.
[53] Bálint Bordács, “A Vesztes és Dühös Ellenzéki Szimpatizánsok Új Ellenzéket Követelnek” [Defeated and Angry Oppositional Sympathizers Demand a New Opposition], Origo, April 22, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20180422-soros-gyorgy-gulyas-marton-lmp-uj-ellenzek.html.
[54] András Kovács, “Ismét Hazudott a Soros-egyetem” [The Soros University Lied Again], Origo, October 6, 2017, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20171006-soros-gyorgy-ceu-akkreditacio-new-york.html.
[55] Origo, “Soros-pénzek: Újabb Magyar Internetes Oldal Támogatása Derült Ki” [Soros-Money: It Was Revealed that Another Website Received Support], August 31, 2016, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20160831-soros-gyorgy-bevandrolas-internetes-portalok.html.
[56] Origo, “Szél Bernadett a Migráció és Soros György Szolgálatában” [Bernadett Szél in the Service of Migration and George Soros], January 15, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20180115-soros-gyorgy-es-a-bevandorlas-szolgalataban-szel-bernadett.html.
[57] Origo, “Kocsis Máté: Ez egy Soros-lista” [Máté Kocsis: This Is a Soros-List], January 6, 2019, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20190106-kocsis-mate-az-origo-cikkerol.html.
[58] MTI, “A szlovák Parlament is Elítélheti a Soros-Sargentini jelentést” [The Slovakian Parliament May Condemn the Soros-Sargentini-Report As Well], Origo, October 17, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20181017-gghh.html.
[59] Origo, “Orbán Viktor: A Dokumentum Soros-jelentés” [Viktor Orbán: The Document is a Soros-Report], 25 June 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20180625-orban-viktor-sargentini-jelentes.h….
[60] Origo, MTI, “Egyre több országnak van elege a Soros-hajókból” [More and More Countries Have Enough of the Soros-Ships], 27 June, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20180627-lifeline-malta-soros-hajo-migransok.html.
[61] MTI, “Kitoloncolták Mexikóból a Határt Ostromló Soros-expressz Migránsait” [Migrants of the Soros-Express Who Besieged the Border Were Deported from Mexico], Origo, November 26, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20181126-kitoloncoltak-mexikobol-a-migranskaravan-felbujtoit.html.
[62] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power.
[63] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power.
[64] Fox News, “Democrat Forced to Resign Over Patriotic Facebook Posts; Google Not Backing Away from China Project,” October 18, 2018, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/democrat-forced-to-resign-over-patriotic-facebook-posts-google-not-backing-away-from-china-project.
[65] Fox News, “Bill O’Reilly: Who is Organizing the Racial Protests Breaking Out Across America?” December 8, 2014. https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/bill-oreilly-who-is-organizing-the-racial-protests-breaking-out-across-america.
[66] Fox News, “Factor Investigation: George Soros,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/factor-investigation-george-soros.
[67] Fox News, “Frank Luntz: Democrats Relaunching Their Campaigns is a Bad Move,” May 14, 2019, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/frank-luntz-democrats-relaunching-their-campaigns-is-a-bad-move.
[68] Fox News, “Will George Soros Buy the Presidential Election of 2008?” September 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/will-george-soros-buy-the-presidential-election-of-2008.
[69] Fox News, “Far Left Running Wild,” July 28, 2008, https://www.foxnews.com/story/far-left-running-wild.
[70] Fox News, “Buying Political Power,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/buying-political-power.
[71] Fox News, “Beck Exposes George Soros’ Puppet Show,” November 12, 2010, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/beck-exposes-george-soros-puppet-show.
[72] Fox News, “Ingraham: Far-left Billionaires Uniting to Remake America,” August 29, 2018, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/ingraham-far-left-billionaires-uniting-to-remake-america.
[73] Origo, “A Soros-hálózat Szélsőbaloldali Aktivistái Őrjöngtek Budapesten” [The Soros-Network’s Far-Left Activists Rampaged Through Budapest], December 13, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20181213-soros-hazai-alciviljeinek-mar-csak-az-eroszak-maradt.html.
[74] Origo, “Őrizetben a Soros-egyetem Egyik Hallgatója, a Soros-hálózat Aktív Tagja” [Student of the Soros-University, an Active Member of the Soros-Network, is in Custody], December 14, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20181214-soros-allhat-az-ellenzeki-tuntetesek-mogott.html.
[75] Fox News, “Ingraham: Far-left Billionaires Uniting to Remake America,” August 29, 2018, https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/ingraham-far-left-billionaires-uniting-to-remake-america.
[76] Sean Hannity, “Hannity,” Fox News, October 2, 2018, https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20181003_010000_Hannity/start/720/end/780.
[77] Tucker Carlson, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, April 5, 2018, https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20180406_000000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/1740/end/1800.
[78] Fox News, “Factor Investigation: George Soros,” April 24, 2007, https://www.foxnews.com/story/factor-investigation-george-soros.
[79] Mark Johnson and George Lakoff, Metaphors We Live By (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003).
[80] Origo, “Újabb Soros-katona Megy Brüsszelbe a Magyarország-ellenes Meghallgatásra” [Another Soros-Solider is Going to Brussels to Attend the Anti-Hungary Hearing], December 5, 2017, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20171204-polyak-gabor-a-mertek-mediaelemzo-muhely-vezetoje-is-hivatalos-a-libe-ulesere.html.
[81] Origo, “Soros György Zsoldosai Befolyásolni Akarják az Amerikai Főbíróválasztást” [George Soros’s Mercenaries Want to Influence the American Supreme Court Vote], October 6, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20181006-fobiro-valaszttas.html.
[82] Origo, “A Soros-hadsereg Összevont Támadást Indított Magyarországgal szemben” [The Soros-Army Launched a Joint Attack on Hungary], October 3, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20181003-soroshadsereg-osszevont-tamadast-inditott-magyarorszaggal-szemben.html.
[83] Origo, “Így foglalja el a Soros-birodalom a Balkánt” [This is How the Soros-Empire is Occupying the Balkans”], November 30, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20181128-alexander-soros-balkani-utazasa….
[84] Origo, “Súlyos Soros-vereség a Bíróságon: Elbukott a Siránkozó Szír Terrorista” [Massive Soros-Defeat at the Court: the Moaning Syrian Terrorist Failed], February 2, 2019, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20190201-ahmed-h-szir-terrorista-migrans-soros-vereseg.html.
[85] Bálint Bordács, “Soros Hadrendbe Állította Őket: Tárgyalnak az Ellenzéki Pártok a Közös Listáról” [Soros Deployed Them: Oppositional Parties Are Negotiating about the Joint List], Origo, January 9, 2019, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20190109-ellenzeki-kozos-forgatokonyv-a-kozos-ep-listara.html.
[86] MTI, “Soros Zsoldosseregei Folyamatosan Támadják Magyarországot” [Soros’s Mercenary Troops Continuously Attack Hungary], Origo, March 22, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20180322-fidesz-soros-zsoldosserege-folyamatosan-tamadja-magyarorszagot.html.
[87] MTI, “Soros Katonái Áskálódnak Magyarország Ellen” [Soros’s Soldiers Conspire Against Hungary], Origo, November 9, 2017, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20171109-halasz-soros-katonai-askalodnak-brusszelben-magyarorszag-ellen.html.
[88] Origo, “Soros Nem Adja Fel: Ismét Célba Vette Magyarországot” [Soros is Not Giving It Up: Again, He Targets Hungary], July 18, 2018, https://www.origo.hu/itthon/20180718-soros-gyorgy-europai-bizottsag-brusszel-eljaras-magyarorszag-tamadasa.html.
[89] Eva S. Balogh, “George Soros and George Orwell’s Emmanuel Goldstein,” Hungarian Spectrum, July 5, 2017, https://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/07/05/george-soros-and-george-orwells-emmanuel-goldstein/.
[90] Ferenc Bakró-Nagy, Ádám Trencsányi, Magdi Göttinger, “Megjöttek az Álturisták, akik Kifaggatnak minket a Soros-tervről” [The Fake-Tourists Are Here: They Want to Know Everything About the Soros-Plan], Index, October 12, 2017, https://index.hu/video/2017/10/12/turista_soros_terv_plakat_propaganda/.
András Földes, “Most Kiderül, Kicsoda Valójában Soros György,” [Now It Will Be Revealed Who Is the Real George Soros], Index, May 16, 2017, https://index.hu/video/2017/05/16/soros_gyorgy_kicsoda_kampany_fidesz/.
[91] Tamás Szilli and Ádám Trencsényi, “Nyilván Indul a Választáson Soros, ha Meg Akarja Nyerni” [Of Course Soros is Running, Once He Wants to Win the Elections], Index, February 2, 2018, https://index.hu/video/2018/02/02/nyilvan_indul_a_valasztason_soros_ha_meg_akarja_nyerni/.
Tamás Német, Péter Lengyel-Szabó, and Máté Szilágyi, “Fáj, a 99 Százalékban Fideszes Falu” [Fáj, the Village Where 99 Percent is Pro-Fidesz], Index, April 10, 2018, https://index.hu/video/2018/04/20/faj_borsod_fidesz_99_szazalek/.
[92] George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (London: Secker & Warburg, 1949) 13-14.
[93] George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (London: Secker & Warburg, 1949) 14.
[94] George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (London: Secker & Warburg, 1949) 15.
[95] Richard S. Levy ed., Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution (Oxford: ABC Clio, 2005) 335.
[96] Gyula Zacsek, “Termeszek Rágják a Nemzetet, avagy Gondolatok a Soros-kurzusról és a Soros-birodalomról,” [Termites are Eating the Nation, or Thoughts on the Soros-regime and the Soros-empire], Magyar Fórum 1992: 4(36): 9–16.
[97] Agnes Gagyi, ‘“Coloniality of Power” in East Central Europe: External Penetration as Internal Force in Post-Socialist Hungarian Politics,” Journal of World-Systems Research, 22(2) 2016: 349-372.
[98] Pablo Gorondi, “Hungary: Jewish Group Asks Orban to Halt Anti-Soros Campaign,” AP News, July 6, 2017, https://apnews.com/d8bdef3ef2ac46de981a27ef42328eb7.
[99] Szabolcs Panyi, “How the Alliance with Israel has Reshaped the Politics of Viktor Orban,” Direkt36, September 30, 2019, https://www.direkt36.hu/en/az-izraeli-szovetseg-ami-atirta-orban-politikajat/?fbclid=IwAR1QIEmUunBrCP7bUVNNxtU4iQSEGMn3rawSXwpHpAVWGqXEnCncuu-FiK8.
[100] MTI, “Orbán Viktor: A Zsidó Közösség a Kormány Védelme Alatt Áll” [Viktor Orbán: The Jewish Community is Protected by the Government], Origo, 19 July 2018, https://www.origo.hu/nagyvilag/20180719-orban-viktor-reuven-rivlin-izrael.html.
[101] Janine Wedel, Unaccountable: How Elite Power Brokers Corrupt our Finances, Freedom, and Security (New York: Pegasus, 2014); Harry G. West and Todd Sanders, Transparency and Conspiracy: Ethnographies of Suspicion in the New World Order (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003).
[102] Erik Swyngedouw, “The Perverse Lure of Autocratic Postdemocracy,” South Atlantic Quarterly 112(2) December 2018: 267–286.
[103] Zsolt Enyedi, “Populist Polarization and Party System Institutionalization, Problems of Post-Communism,” Problems of Post-Communism 63(4) 2016: 210–220.
[104] “Hungary PM: We Lied to Win Election,” The Guardian, Sep 18, 2006, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/18/1.
[105] Orhan Gazi Ertekin, “The Rise of Caesarism, or Erdoğan’s Way,” South Atlantic Quarterly 118(1) 2019: 61–80.
[106] Katharina Bodirsky, “Making and Breaking Alliances: On Valuation in Hegemonic Projects,” Dialectical Anthropology, online first: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-020-09585-3; Regina Smyth and Irina Soboleva, “Looking beyond the economy: Pussy Riot and the Kremlin’s voting coalition,” Post-Soviet Affairs 30(4) 2014: 257–275.
[107] Andrea L. P. Pirro, “Ballots and Barricades Enhanced: Far-right ‘Movement Parties’ and Movement-electoral Interactions,” Nations and Nationalism 25(3) 2019, 782–802.
Sidebar Endnotes
[1] “Orbán to EU Counterparts: Clear Link between Coronavirus and Illegal Migration,” Hungary Today, March 11, 2020, https://hungarytoday.hu/orban-to-eu-counterparts-clear-link-between-coronavirus-and-illegal-migration/.
[2] Kristóf Szombati, “COVID-19 and Authoritarian Crisis Management in Hungary,” Political Research Associates, April 15, 2020, https://www.politicalresearch.org/2020/04/15/covid-19-and-authoritarian-crisis-management-hungary.
[3] “The EU Should Issue Perpetual Bonds,” Project Syndicate, April 20, 2020, https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/finance-european-union-recovery-with-perpetual-bonds-by-george-soros-2020-04.
[4] “Kész a második Soros-terv” [The second Soros plan is ready], Magyar Nemzet, April 25, 2020, https://magyarnemzet.hu/belfold/megszuletett-az-uj-soros-fele-tervezet-8044127/.
[5] “Hungarian Government Launches Coronavirus Questionnaire,” The Associated Press, June 9, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/hungarian-government-launches-coronavirus-questionnaire-71138321
Marianna Kovács-Angel, “Itt van a nemzeti konzultáció 13 kérdése” [“Here are the 13 Questions of the National Consultation,” translated by authors], 24.hu, June 8, 2020, https://24.hu/belfold/2020/06/08/nemzeti-konzultacio-kerdesei/.
[6] Emily Tamkin, “The Right is Trying to Link George Soros and George Floyd Protests. Don’t let it,” June 6, 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/right-trying-link-george-soros-george-floyd-protests-don-t-ncna1225446?fbclid=IwAR04FxGxokSIwjzUdojSOhPSavvrtvHB7uj9ReRZisB_PL3HQCLVeZvDRMQ
[7] “Fox guest calls for American citizen George Soros to be deported because “he is the destruction to our civilization and a clear and present danger to our country,” Media Matters, June 1, 2020, https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-guest-calls-american-citizen-george-soros-be-deported-because-he-destruction-our.