About two weeks after stating that Hungary, unlike the rest of Europe, would never become a “mixed race” country, Viktor Orban was given a warm embrace by CPAC. And why not? Racism, xenophobia, control of the media, authoritarian rule, a soft position on Russian aggression, and a side of grifting–what’s there for “conservatives” to dislike?
The question Orban should be asked is why, if he so despises the EU, he doesn’t just leave it. The reason nobody asks the question is that everyone already knows the answer: the EU is Hungary’s sugar daddy. Orban has the best of both worlds; he gets to be both a beggar and a chooser.
That needs to stop. In addition, what “works” in some sense in a small and relatively insignificant country will not work in a nation of descendants of immigrants with global interests and responsibilities. American reactionaries would be wise to remember that–not that they will.