Orban's theories and practices on 'the great replacement'

Budapest, Hungary. Photo by Molnár Bálint on Unsplash

Hopes for an agreement on the sixth sanctions package against Russia ahead of next week’s European Union summit are diminishing as Hungary emerges defiant. This is relevant in the context of the widening chasm between Brussels and Budapest over rule of law standards.

Viktor Orban’s Hungary is a law unto itself.

And the American right wing is actively trying to learn from the master.

The American right isn’t just paying lip service to the theories and practices of Mr Orban’s Hungary. It’s actively promoting them.

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, for instance, pays nightly obeisance to the  racist conspiracy theory that Mr Orban has propagated for years. The “great replacement” theory posits that immigrants are part of political project to undermine or even wipe out native-born populations. It has informed and triggered mass shooters — in a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019, and on May 14, 2022, in a Buffalo supermarket in New Yo…