The purpose of Orbanization is the acquisition of permanent political power and the liquidation of effective and meaningful dissent through the following means: extreme gerrymandering; the identification and vilification of straw man enemies, both at home and abroad; opportunistic corruption; the politicization of administration, the legal system, and law enforcement; and the elimination of opposition media through acquisition and harassment. The GOP as a whole is taking care of the gerrymandering part, with some assistance from a friendly Supreme Court; Trump’s first term featured all of the other elements except the elimination of opposition media.
Since Trump has no interest in policy, Orbanization is likely to be the focal point of a second term. The real questions here are:
- How open will he be about his desire to destroy liberal democracy during the campaign?
- Will his lesser vices–laziness, vanity, and an inability to focus–inhibit his ability to effectively Orbanize America?
I don’t know the answers to those questions for certain, but my best guesses are that he will be very open about his disdain for constitutional government, since the base agrees with him on that point, and that the extreme right-wingers around him will keep the project on track this time.