Thread by @sarahposner

Did you read this excellent reporting from @gregpmiller et al.? Let's talk about it.

Putin and Hungary’s Orban helped sour Trump on Ukraine washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

@gregpmiller Thread:

They report that Putin and Hungary's Viktor Orban helped turn Trump against Ukraine. Not the specific ant-Biden conspiracy theories later hatched, but just in general. /1

@gregpmiller They further report that Putin/Orban "efforts to poison Trump’s views toward Zelensky...took on added significance this year because of the departure or declining influence of those who had sought to blunt the influence of Putin and other authoritarian leaders over Trump." /2

@gregpmiller As I reported earlier this year, the embrace of Orban and Orban conspiracy theories and rhetoric is not unique to Trump and in fact pre-dates his presidency. /3

newrepublic.com/article/153276…

@gregpmiller A perfect storm of far-right Republican lawmakers, DC lobbyists hired by Orban, and willing players in right-wing think tanks and media helped shape Orban's image, among conservatives in DC, as a regular old conservative like them under siege from the Soros-led left. /4

@gregpmiller In other words, Trump's embrace of Orban, and the shaping of Orban's image as a like-minded conservative with the GOP, imbued Orban with added ability (beyond Trump's own affinity with authoritarians) to shape Trump's thinking without objection from the GOP. /5

@gregpmiller You can read it all here (via @newrepublic and @typeinvestigate): /6

newrepublic.com/article/153276…

@gregpmiller @newrepublic @typeinvestigate Orban is also a hero to the American Christian right, a prototype of a Christian leader they believe the world needs now, further propelling and bolstering a shift on the right towards right-wing authoritarianism and away from liberal democracy. /7

@gregpmiller @newrepublic @typeinvestigate You can read more about that here (via @VICE and @typeinvestigate): /fin

vice.com/en_us/article/…