A vulgar Slovak rules

Hearing Slovakia’s prime minister utter the words “dirty anti-Slovak prostitutes” would always have been dispiriting, even if he had been attending a mud-wrestling competition for Hungarian sex workers. But the fact he hurled them at domestic journalists – even those employed by public-service media – tells us everything we need to know about his motives. His vulgarity was not, as he tried to claim, the impulsive response of a principled man to mischievous provocation. It was intended to demoralize his opponents, including (especially) those who don’t yet realize how much he imperils their future.