Hungary is an exasperating, if highly successful, outpost of social conservatism

There was an interesting article in today's Globe and Mail about a country that doesn't get too much media attention: Hungary.
The usual context of what media attention there is tends to be with reference to its clampdown on immigration and the autocratic tendencies of prime minister Viktor Orbán. In polite Canadian conversation, both are usually accompanied by a roll of the eyes. The only Hungarian I know talks of his birth country in disparaging and apologetic terms, usually with the same eye roll.
And yet ... Budapest is a beautiful and booming city, much beloved by weekend trippers from elsewhere in Europe and more serious culture vultures from further afield. In addition to its medieval and Hapsburg architectural heritage, modern Budapest is a hot spot for craft beers and vegan restaurants, full of trendy cafes and hybrid cars. It is undergoing an economic boom that is the envy of many another European city, and unemployment is at a record low.
It is perhaps no surprise, then, that Viktor Orbán is repeatedly voted in with substantial majorities. Yes, he has a penchant for suppression of the press, and a strident line on immigrants, both legal and illegal, but let's not forget that he has been democratically elected in to power four times now. Even though the country has very few immigrants, and is actually suffering from emigration and demographic decline problems if anything, the electorate regularly cites immigration as their main concern. So, arguably, Orbán is just providing the people with what they want, however ill-advised that may be.
Hungary is a profoundly socially conservative region, in part because it was hidden behind the iron curtain while the rest of Europe and North America was liberalizing during the sixties and seventies, and partly because it has chosen a much more conservative and Christian route even after it was freed from Soviet rule in 1989. A favourite slogan of Orbán's Fidesz party is "Ebbol nem kerunk", roughly translated as "we don't want any of that", meaning liberal values represented by the European Union and enlightened and influential Hungarians like George Soros (against whom Orbán has been waging an ideological war for years).
The day will probably come when Orbán is voted out of office, but that day does not look likely to be soon, as his Fidesz party has broad support from all sorts of demographics, from Christian grandmothers wary of a return to Soviet atheism, to well-heeled businessmen happy with the coumtry's economic stability and low corporate taxes, to the traditionally socially conservative Roma community who have seen some substantial government handouts, to the poorer end of the working class who have seen the minimum wage almost double in the last decade.
Orbán may be a nasty piece of work in some respects, but he has also done a pretty astute piece of political manoeuvring over his long tenure. Hungary remains, then, an interesting, if exasperating, place. You can just imagine Donald Trump peering enviously at its record and its political strategies. It is no coincidence that former Trump strategist Steve Bannon has described Orbán as "Trump before Trump".