U.S. President Donald Trump models himself after Hungary’s long time Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. He likes his tough, take-no-prisoners approach. He admires his control of the Hungarian judicial system and the press, and his authoritarian stands on immigration and homosexuality. Orban is the mafia boss Trump has always aspired to be.

But my recent trip to Hungary revealed there’s a little fly in the ointment, a Tinkle Bell of sorts pulling pranks in the Hungarian firmament. He’s Peter Magyar, and his name literally translates to Peter Hungary. Mr. Magyar, intending to upset Orban in the national election next April, laced up his shoes and walked over 200-miles from Budapest to northwestern Romania, Hungary’s neighbor, on what he called the “One million steps for peace and national unity initiative.”

According to Hungarians I spoke with, throughout his walk Magyar reached out to everyone he could, including traditional Orban supporters. He listened, answered questions, and was strikingly non-defensive. His approach was a significant departure from Orban’s defiant stands against the EU, non-traditional families, and immigrants. The average Hungarian increasingly wonders why their country is consistently near the bottom of European economic measures. They have witnessed for years now how successful Hungarian businesses have been squeezed out by Orban’s family and friends, the value of their enterprises finding its way into Orban’s coffers.

Here in the States another political upstart, N.Y.C. mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic-Socialist, also decided to employ walking as a political strategy. Mamdani similarly walked the length of Manhattan meeting and greeting a diverse group of New Yorkers along the way. They apparently liked what they heard. He has walked and listened his way to victory, winning yesterday’s NYC mayoral election by a nearly 10-points.

So too, Magyar in Hungary. Polls show Magyar and his opposition party running ahead of the entrenched Orban. His task is not a simple one. But it perhaps shows that many Hungarians have had enough of Orban and his raping and pillaging of Hungary under the guise of nationalism.

Both performances, that of Magyar in Hungary and Mamdani in New York City, offer hope for us here in the U.S. as we painfully watch Trump fray our Democracy and ignore the Constitution. Ridding America of Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) acolytes will require more than one or two newsworthy walks. Nevertheless, here’s hoping lovers of democracy everywhere can unite and force Trump, and like-minded thugs like Orban, masking as patriots, to take their own long walks along some very short piers.