Is this a warning, or is it too late? By Thanos Kalamidas

It often makes me wonder whether Viktor Orban, Donald Trump, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are part of a grand, cynical experiment. An experiment designed not with scientific curiosity, but with a calculated, sinister purpose: to see just how much authoritarianism the so-called "democratic" world is willing to tolerate before it finally fights back, if it ever does.

Once upon a time, fascism wore jackboots and marched in perfect synchronization, its uniform starched, its rhetoric loud and clear about the enemy within and the necessity of national purity. But fascism learned from its mistakes. It evolved. It now wears tailored suits, speaks the language of democracy, and brands itself as "patriotic leadership." It grins at us through polished television screens and tweets in bite-sized slogans, designed not to inform but to manipulate. It replaces soldiers with bureaucrats, tanks with algorithms, and bullets with misinformation.

And we, the people, are being conditioned to accept it.

Viktor Orban turned Hungary into a laboratory of "soft dictatorship," or rather, an Orwellian blueprint of "illiberal democracy", a phrase that should be an oxymoron but, in this twisted world, is a model for others to follow. He consolidated power, bought the media, demonized immigrants, rewrote history books, and turned elections into ceremonial performances where the winner was preordained. Yet, the European Union still hands him checks, and NATO still calls him an ally.

Then there’s Donald Trump, the man who declared war on truth itself. He turned democratic institutions into personal playthings, appointed sycophants, peddled conspiracy theories, and incited insurrection in broad daylight. And yet, he walks free, poised for a comeback, his followers more emboldened than ever. He didn't break democracy; he made democracy question itself, showing that a mob's loyalty can outweigh the weight of law.

And Erdogan? He turned Turkey into a warning sign disguised as a nation-state. He crushed opposition, silenced journalists, and turned elections into theatrical spectacles of "choice." When he lost a city, he made them vote again until they got it right. And still, world leaders shake his hand, still, he plays kingmaker in NATO negotiations.

We watch all this unfold, and the world barely flinches. What was once unthinkable, autocratic rule in so-called democratic states, is now just another headline, another shrug, another "what can we do?" The creeping normalization of authoritarianism isn't just happening with a bang; it's happening with a slow, insidious whisper, a quiet erosion of rights, a steady shift in public perception.

And that is the real experiment.

The slow cooking of democracy in its own apathy, testing how much we are willing to tolerate. First, we tolerate media control. Then, we tolerate the demonization of "outsiders." Then, the judiciary falls, then the elections become spectacles, then dissent is called treason, then... then one day, we wake up and find that democracy is just an old myth, told in hushed voices over censored history books.

And so, the question remains: Is this a warning? Or is it too late?