{"id":46780,"date":"2026-02-19T20:53:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T04:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46780"},"modified":"2026-02-19T20:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T04:55:09","slug":"wake-up-before-its-too-late-says-aoc-as-rubio-embraces-autocrat-orban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/wake-up-before-its-too-late-says-aoc-as-rubio-embraces-autocrat-orban\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Wake Up Before It\u2019s Too Late,\u2019 Says AOC as Rubio Embraces Autocrat Orb\u00e1n"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio leave the podium after a joint press conference in Budapest, Hungary on February 16, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Alex Brandon\/Pool AP\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to take the gloves off and fight for our future,\u201d the democratic socialist congresswoman asserted.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 17, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> heaped praise upon Viktor Orb\u00e1n as he seeks a sixth term as Hungary\u2019s increasingly autocratic prime minister, progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> on Monday implored democracy<\/a> defenders to \u201ctake the gloves off and fight for our future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visiting Budapest, the Hungarian capital, on the last leg of a three-country tour of Europe, Rubio pressed the Trump administration\u2019s thumb on the proverbial scale of Hungary\u2019s April election with a ringing endorsement of Orb\u00e1n, telling him that President Donald Trump<\/a> \u201cis deeply committed to your success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"'Working-Class-Centered<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Working-Class-Centered Politics\u2019 Is Key to Defeating \u2018Scourge of Authoritarianism\u2019: AOC in Munich<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"'We<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We Are Coming for Power for Working People\u2019: Ocasio-Cortez Talks US Politics in Germany<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a glaring departure from a 2019 warning<\/a> from lawmakers including then-Sen. Rubio (R-Fla.) to Trump that democracy had \u201csignificantly eroded\u201d in Hungary as Orb\u00e1n consolidated control over the electoral process, judiciary, and press. Now, Rubio says Orb\u00e1n\u2019s success is \u201cessential and vital\u201d to US national interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom Orb\u00e1n to Trump, the rise of far-right movements is tightly coordinated and transcends borders,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0on Facebook in response to Rubio\u2019s visit. \u201cSo too should be our international defense of democracy and the fight for working people. From policy to tactics, it\u2019s time to take the gloves off and fight for our future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/AOC\/status\/2023511201687433540?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2023511201687433540%7Ctwgr%5Ed32cd7ebba0a99f80a882df4c4789881f60f304e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Frubio-orban<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Hungary openly flouted a US ban on importing oil<\/a>, natural gas, or coal<\/a> from Russia amid President Vladimir Putin\u2019s ongoing invasion and occupation of Ukraine<\/a>, Trump recently granted Budapest a one-year exemption from sanctions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s pursuit of an independent foreign policy\u2014which included close relations with Russia and China\u2014was cited as a reason for the US invasion of Venezuela<\/a> and abduction<\/a> of Maduro, Rubio said that Orb\u00e1n\u2019s increasingly close ties with Moscow<\/a> and Beijing are a matter of Hungarian sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not asking any country in the world to isolate themselves from anybody,\u201d Rubio said, although that\u2019s exactly what the Trump administration<\/a> reportedly ordered<\/a> Venezuela\u2019s interim government to do to China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no reason to sugarcoat it. I\u2019m going to be very blunt with you,\u201d Rubio told reporters Monday, adding that Trump and Orb\u00e1n \u201chave a very, very close personal relationship and working relationship, and I think it has been incredibly beneficial to the relationship between our two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Ocasio-Cortez accused Trump of trying to usher in an \u201cage of authoritarianism<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to have a working-class-centered politics if we are going to succeed,\u201d she said<\/a>, \u201cand also if we are going to stave off the scourges of authoritarianism, which provides political siren calls to allure people into finding scapegoats to blame for rising economic inequality<\/a>, both domestically and globally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ocasio-Cortez\u2014whose increasingly high profile has sparked speculation of a possible run for higher office\u2014also slammed the \u201chypocrisies\u201d of US foreign policy, \u201cwhether it is kidnapping a foreign head of state, whether it is threatening our allies to colonize Greenland<\/a>, whether it is looking the other way in a genocide<\/a>, hypocrisies are vulnerabilities, and they threaten democracies globally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a moment where we are seeing our presidential administration tear apart the transatlantic partnership,\u201d she added. \u201cWhat is happening is indeed very grave, and we are in a new era, domestically and globally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio leave the podium after a joint press conference in Budapest, Hungary on February 16, 2026. \u00a0(Photo by Alex Brandon\/Pool AP\/AFP via Getty Images) \u201cIt\u2019s time to take the gloves off and fight for our future,\u201d the democratic socialist… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46782,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46780\/revisions\/46782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}