Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the far-right politician known around the world for his support of “illiberal democracy” and fervent anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-Muslim stances, recently took a big step towards open fascism by declaring his opposition to race-mixing in Europe. In a speech last weekend, Orbán stated that he does not want Europeans to “become peoples of mixed-race” and that countries accepting other races “are no longer nations.” Orbán also used his remarks to joke about the atrocities committed against the Jews during the Holocaust. Now the autocratic leader is coming to Dallas to speak at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference, and Texas Republicans are likely to embrace the bigoted authoritarian with open arms.
Orbán’s atrocious language was quickly denounced by the International Auschwitz Committee, and his longtime adviser Zsuzsa Hegedüs, who had stayed with the PM through numerous controversies, immediately resigned following the PM’s words, releasing a public statement excoriating her former boss’s comments as a “pure Nazi text” that was “worthy of Goebbels.”
However, CPAC appears to have no problem with Orbán’s speech and is still inviting Orbán to its annual event, where major Texas Republicans including Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Senator Ted Cruz, and Attorney General Ken Paxton are slated to speak alongside him.
Orbán has been embraced by the Republican Party as a model for how to enact their agenda moving forward. Examples of this admiration for the Hungarian include Donald Trump endorsing his successful re-election campaign this year, Tucker Carlson spending a week in the Eastern European country to fawn over Orbán’s illiberal accomplishments, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis privately using the autocrat’s actions as direct inspiration for his own governance.
In response to the CPAC visit, the Texas Democratic Party released a statement condemning the Hungarian autocrat, asking the pertinent question: “Are Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, and other Texas Republicans really going to share a stage next week with this internationally-condemned racist?”
The Republican Party and its leaders have until next weekend to find their consciences.
