During an appearance in the USA, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for a fight against liberalism. "If anyone has doubts as to whether progressive liberals and communists are the same, just ask us Hungarians (...) They are the same. So we have to defeat them again," said Orban on Thursday in Dallas at the start of a conference of right-wing conservatives. "We need a total defence," he added. Orban's speech was peppered with war rhetoric - he spoke of a culture war and positioned himself against migration and liberal values.
Orban gave the opening speech of the "Conservative Political Action Conference" in Texas. The CPAC is a regular gathering of right-wing conservatives that brings together many supporters of former US President Donald Trump, conspiracy theorists and the religious right. The refuted claim that Trump won the 2020 presidential election is practically de rigueur at the meeting. The main speaker on Saturday evening (local time) is Trump himself.
Orban has governed Hungary since 2010 and leads a right-wing government. He has eroded democracy and the rule of law there, which is why he is also in conflict with the European Union. At the CPAC, he played the sound of his hosts - presenting himself as an ally and role model. He received a lot of applause, for example, when he praised the "traditional family". "We need more Rangers, less drag queens and more Chuck Norris," he said. Chuck Norris is an American martial artist and actor.
Orban described himself as an "old-fashioned freedom fighter" and claimed his country was under siege by "progressive liberals". "I am the longest serving Prime Minister in Europe. The only anti-immigrant political leader on our continent, a father of five children and grandfather of five grandchildren," he said. He also drew from the leather against the US Democrats. "They have done everything to drive a wedge between us. They hate me and slander me and my country just as they hate you and slander the America you stand for," he said.
Orban repeatedly received loud applause from the several hundred spectators in the hall. He presented himself as a leading figure from whom the right in the US could still learn. "You have to be brave. If you're afraid, you have a job to do," he said to his hosts. "The only thing we Hungarians can show you is how we can defend ourselves according to our own rules." Hungary itself hosted a CPAC conference in May.
CPAC organizers describe the gathering "as one of the largest and most influential gatherings of conservatives in the world." Moderate conservatives are not to be found there, however. Another guest on Thursday was former arch-conservative vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who now wants to move into the US House of Representatives.
Palin is considered a stimulus figure of the political right. She was the butt of ridicule during the 2008 election campaign when, as a vice presidential candidate, she claimed she could see Russia from her home in Alaska. Now she railed against the government of US President Joe Biden and the "fake news media", which would not report on the important things at all. She always got loud applause for this - even if the rows in the hall had already emptied a bit. Palin was the last speaker on Thursday.
On Friday, for example, Republican MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made a name for herself as a representative of right-wing conspiracy theories, is scheduled to speak. Trump ally Steve Bannon also makes an appearance – Bannon was already omnipresent in the event rooms on Thursday. Bannon is one of the co-founders of the right-wing Internet platform Breitbart and is one of the most influential voices in the ultra-conservative camp of US politics.
