Scott Alexander discusses reader responses to his review of Viktor Orban's leadership in Hungary, exploring debates around authoritarianism, democracy, and effective governance. Longer summary

Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to reader comments on his review of Viktor Orban's governance in Hungary. Key points include debates over whether Orban qualifies as a dictator, comparisons to other political leaders, analysis of Hungary's electoral system and immigration policies, and reflections on the tradeoffs between decisive governance and maintaining democratic safeguards. Shorter summary

Elizabeth Van Nostrand explains how the International Refugee Assistance Project's (IRAP) ground-level work with refugees enabled a rapid response to Trump's immigration ban, highlighting the importance of maintaining emergency response capacity. Longer summary

This guest post by Elizabeth VanNostrand discusses the importance of organizations like the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) in responding to crises such as Trump's immigration ban. The author explains how IRAP's day-to-day work with individual refugee cases positioned them to respond quickly and effectively when the ban was implemented. The post highlights the value of maintaining capacity for emergency response, even when it may seem inefficient during non-crisis periods. It also emphasizes the importance of partnerships between organizations like IRAP and larger, more established groups like the ACLU. The author concludes by encouraging donations to IRAP or similar small charities doing ground-level work. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander defends his past writings on Trump, emphasizing his consistent criticism of Trump while refuting accusations that he underestimated Trump's racism or missed hidden signals. Longer summary

Scott Alexander defends his past posts about Trump in light of recent criticism. He emphasizes that he has never been a Trump supporter and has consistently criticized him. He addresses two main points of contention: First, his stance against overinterpreting politicians' statements as secret codes (dog whistles), arguing that Trump's recent Muslim ban was openly stated policy, not a hidden agenda. Second, he reiterates that his post 'You Are Still Crying Wolf' acknowledged Trump would likely ban Muslims, but argued this stemmed from cognitive bias rather than white supremacy. Scott maintains that while Trump is bad and often motivated by everyday racism, he is not an ideological white supremacist. He encourages critics to make their own predictions about Trump's presidency and compare them to his own recorded predictions. Shorter summary