this is the short version of how viktor orban, the prime minister of hungary, effectively dismantled the news media in his country. this effort was a central pillar of orban's broader project to remake his country as an illiberal democracy. a weakened press made it easier for him to keep secrets, to rewrite reality, to undermine political rivals, to act with impunity, and ultimately to consolidate unchecked power in ways that left the nation and its people worse off. it's a story that is being repeated in eroding democracies all around the world, and it is a story that is being aped right now by the second donald trump presidential term. and this is not yet being treated as one of the things the new trump administration is doing, but they are doing it, and they are using both the federal government and allies outside government to do it. and if the model holds, i expect that what we're going to see is a big spike in defamation cases brought against various media companies, particularly now that so many companies are settling them and paying rather than fighting them. we will see a sy

. >> viktor orban did is exactly what we now see donald trump doing, which is that he came into power with thousands of pages of laws that had been written by private actors outside the system before he assumed power. and so when he came into office, he began shoveling these laws through his compliant parliament. and the members of parliament didn't really know what they were enacting. and so by the time i think everybody figured it out, three years into orban's regime, he had captured virtually all of the independent institutions. he had also rewritten the election law, and there was no way any opposition force had the toehold, the resources or the organization to actually ever oust him from power. so what we're seeing now in the u.s. is exactly this kind of thing. and i must say, you know, what's interesting is that people still think that you lose democracies with tanks in the streets. and what i keep saying is, no, you lose, you lose. your undermine it by law. >> so that's really interesting. i am telling you that i hate to go back to the nazi era. i don't want to bring up hitler.

supporters of viktor orban, the right wing leader of hungary and a darling of pro-trump conservatives, who led usaid during the biden administration for trying to import american values into their country. why is elon musk so against the importing of american values, at least as long as they include democracy in europe? >> well, for him, this is. >> you know, if you look at what. >> he. >> says publicly ■abou about. >> usaid. this is this. >> is just, you know, to him about kind. >> of rank corruption. i don't think he's. >> necessarily seeing. >> this as a way to kind. >> of ally himself with. >> rightward movements, though. >> you're correct. of course. they are sort of celebrating. >> what elon is doing, you. >> know. >> generally covering musk, what you see on the internet in terms of how he describes his motivations. is pretty honest. and you can take that for how it's for any direction you would like. but, you know, elon. >> is kind of seeing. >> information online that. >> you. >> know. >> that he thinks. >> suggests that. >> usaid is. rife with corruption. >> and, you know, th