Orban's Hungary is now guru to the American right

Here's why it matters

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

On Saturday, August 7, Tucker Carlson spoke at the MCC Feszt, a festival organized to celebrate “Hungarian talent.”

There’s a reason the world should take note.

Mr Carlson is an American conservative, a Fox News personality whose show is one of the most popular on cable news in the United States. He has often expressed public admiration for Hungary’s proudly illiberal prime minister Viktor Orban, celebrating him the autocratic leader’s supposed defence of his countrymen from the alleged dangers posed by Muslim immigrants and Brussels bureaucrats. A couple of years ago, Mr Carlson declared that “Hungary’s leaders actually care about making sure their own people thrive”. It was a reference to Hungary’s attempts to reward childbirth. Mr Carlson also said, “Instead of promising the nation’s wealth to every illegal immigrant from the Third World, they’re using tax dollars to uplift their own people.”

In a teaser for a documentary that will cover the Hungarian …