Less than three hours after the polls closed, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban conceded that he had lost. Addressing his supporters, he congratulated "the victorious party," adding that he would now "serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition."

Steve Bannon once called Orban "Trump before Trump." It was meant to be high praise for both men. Yet, Orban’s concession is something Donald Trump has never done — and something he never will do.

Trump’s track record speaks for itself. Five years after he lost the 2020 election, Trump still falsely claims that he won. Unlike Orban, Trump never congratulated Joe Biden. He never placed his country or party over his personal interests.

Most importantly, Trump made clear that he had no interest in being a part of a loyal opposition. To the contrary, he has built his entire political movement on rejecting the results of elections he loses.

There are lessons to be learned from Hungary. The need for an organized opposition, the importance of an independent pro-democracy media ecosystem, the limits of foreign interference in the face of a determined electorate.

But there are also key differences that suggest our elections are likely to be much messier.

Orban's power rested on an authoritarian foundation built over 16 years in power. While Trump aspires to be a dictator, his political base was forged in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Its core tenet is not a policy such as immigration, crime or tariffs. Rather, it is election denialism.

One can be a Republican in good standing and oppose Trump on the Iran War, immigration policy and a range of social issues. The only position that every Trump loyalist must adhere to is that the 2020 election was stolen.

In hearing after hearing, Trump's nominees are asked about this under oath. And uniformly, they refuse to say that Joe Biden won the election. They may admit he was president, but not that it was the result of a free and fair election.

From the moment the polls closed in 2020, Trump attacked the results and he has never stopped. And his entire political movement is based on that experience.

The founding credo of this movement was articulated on Jan. 6, 2021, as Trump addressed his supporters at the Ellipse. Shortly before asking them to march to the Capitol, he said: "We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that's what this is all about. …We will stop the steal."

We all know what happened next. Trump went back to the White House and watched as a violent mob stormed the Capitol to stop Congress from formally accepting the election results.

Since then, Trump has built the MAGA movement on a foundation of election denialism. That is what makes him different from and more dangerous than Orban. The defeated Hungarian leader can try to rebuild his authoritarian movement from the minority in parliament. Trump, on the other hand, has built his entire movement on the lie of the 2020 election.

Without election denialism, there is no Trumpism. Without the myth of his unbeatable political dominance, his followers have no unifying reason to support him. And, without that base, he loses the grip he has on a party elite that otherwise despises him.

That is why Trump will never follow Orban's lead in admitting defeat. It is why a gracious concession is beyond the realm of possibility. Most importantly, it is why those of us in the pro-democracy movement cannot look to today as a predictor of what is to come this fall.

We may be able to replicate a mass political movement. Voters may turn out in high numbers to vote against Republicans. But if he loses, there is no chance that Trump will concede.

To do so would be political death. It would fracture his coalition like nothing else could. And he knows it.

That is why he has spent so much time and effort building a voter suppression and election subversion infrastructure for 2026. The nearly three dozen DOJ lawsuits to obtain sensitive voter data is one example. So too is Trump's push to enact the SAVE Act. His recent executive order that would allow his administration to determine who can and cannot vote by mail is another.

Other pro-democracy lawyers and I are challenging the lawsuits and the executive order in court. Democrats will stop the SAVE Act from passing the Senate. But Trump is certainly not done.

That is why we cannot let our guard down.

Orban's defeat is worth celebrating — and the millions who turned out against him are a genuine source of hope and inspiration. But Hungary is not America, and Orban is not Trump.

The Hungarian strongman built his movement on policy and patronage. Trump built his on a lie.

When election results show defeat, he will not bow out gracefully as Orban did. He will do what he has always done: attack the election and use every available tool to overturn the result by any means available.

That is precisely why the pro-democracy movement in this country must be ready — not just to win votes, but to defend them.