The author reports on Hungary’s election where Viktor Orbán faces a strong challenge from Péter Magyar amid rising economic hardship, linking today’s campaign to 19th-century American enthusiasm for Lajos Kossuth. He then examines how Nick Fuentes and other online paleocons have revived extremist ideas that William F. Buckley long tried to exclude from mainstream conservatism.

• Péter Magyar's Tisza party has pulled roughly even with Orbán's Fidesz in polls, driven by inflation that hit 25% and €17 billion in frozen EU funds, making this Orbán's toughest election in 16 years.
• American enthusiasm for Hungarian revolutionary Lajos Kossuth in the 1850s (drawing figures like Lincoln, Whitman, Marx, and Engels) prefigures today's cross-border fascination with Hungarian politics.
• Nick Fuentes and other online paleocons have repackaged extremist ideas that William F. Buckley deliberately excluded from National Review, successfully mainstreaming them for a new audience.