What Viktor Orbán did for the last 16 years in power was "an experiment" - but even he didn't know what to call it. "Illiberal democracy" sounded too negative.
His American friends liked to call it "national conservatism", which sounds better, but it was never strictly true. Unlike most conservatives, Orbán was a rebel.
He constantly radicalised himself. So what could he conserve?
He loved to thumb his nose at the mainstream, at the "Brussels bureaucrats". He was a thorn in their side, but whenever they hit back, he turned it to his own advantage.
He portrayed himself as an "anti globalist" but invited Germany carmakers, and Chinese and South Korean EV battery makers to Hungary.
