{"id":596638,"date":"2022-04-08T22:07:12","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T22:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fair.org\/?p=9028104"},"modified":"2022-04-08T22:07:12","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T22:07:12","slug":"right-wing-us-media-applaud-hungarys-orban-as-example-to-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/04\/08\/right-wing-us-media-applaud-hungarys-orban-as-example-to-follow\/","title":{"rendered":"Right-Wing US Media Applaud Hungary\u2019s Orban as Example to Follow"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"JTA:

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency<\/strong> (4\/4\/22<\/a>) called attention to the “use of antisemitic dog whistles as Orb\u00e1n declared victory for \u201cChristian democratic politics\u201d in Hungary.”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Viktor Orb\u00e1n has been re-elected the Hungarian prime minister, a win for the global far-right movement. Now the European Union’s longest-lasting leader, he has served as prime minister since 2010.<\/p>\n

Orb\u00e1n\u2019s rule in Hungary\u2014a member of both the EU and NATO\u2014has drawn scorn from the international community for its hostility toward the LGBT community (Reuters<\/b>, 12\/13\/21<\/a>), dismantling of press freedom (Politico<\/b>, 7\/5\/21<\/a>) and criminalization of citizens helping immigrants (BBC<\/b>, 12\/21\/21<\/a>). The Jewish Telegraphic Agency <\/b>(4\/4\/22<\/a>) noted that in addition to excoriating the \u201cinternational left,\u201d Orb\u00e1n, upon reelection, turned his ire to \u201cGeorge Soros, the Hungarian-American liberal billionaire, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u201d\u2014singling out Jewish enemies in a way that bolstered concerns that his regime is antisemitic (Politico<\/b>, 5\/13\/19<\/a>; Deutsche Welle<\/b>, 12\/17\/20<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In fact, the hopelessness of Jewish Hungarians was felt during the election, as the main opposition coalition to Orb\u00e1n included a party even further to the right than Orb\u00e1n’s Fidesz, Jobbik, considered by many to be neo-Nazi (Jewish Telegraphic Agency<\/b>, 4\/1\/22<\/a>). Hungary\u2019s journalists believe that an emboldened Orb\u00e1n will mean press freedom in the country is set to receive further blows in the near future (Committee to Protect Journalists, 4\/5\/22<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In the right-wing US press, however, Orb\u00e1n\u2019s re-election is portrayed as a victory against secularism and wokeness.<\/p>\n

‘An example for the Western world’<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"Fox:

Fox News<\/strong> (4\/5\/22<\/a>): “Tucker Carlson highlighted the similarities between Donald Trump’s election in 2016, and Sunday’s reelection of President Orb\u00e1n in Hungary.”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The Wall Street Journal<\/b> (4\/4\/22<\/a>) gave Orb\u00e1n\u2019s win cautious support, bragging that \u201chis conservative views on sexual ethics may be closer to the European mainstream than his critics elsewhere in the European Union care to admit.\u201d While admitting Hungary\u2019s coziness with Russia was \u201ccringe-worthy,\u201d the Journal<\/b> said the \u201cEU and NATO will have to make some accommodation to Mr. Orb\u00e1n\u2019s government, however distasteful that may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tucker Carlson of Fox News<\/b>, who has been notorious booster of Orb\u00e1n and his far-right policies (FAIR.org<\/b>, 8\/3\/21<\/a>), \u201chighlighted the similarities between Donald Trump’s election in 2016, and Sunday’s reelection of President Orb\u00e1n in Hungary,\u201d Fox<\/b>‘s website (4\/5\/22<\/a>) reported. Carlson interviewed right-wing Dutch commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek, who said, \u201cOrb\u00e1n has won, but [the left will] just ramp up the hate campaign, because they are terrified that this sets an example for the rest of the Western world.\u201d The left, she said, fears a course where \u201cwe can reject globalism and a country can embrace national values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsmax <\/b>(4\/4\/22<\/a>) downplayed the warm relations between Budapest and Moscow, portraying Orb\u00e1n as neutral during the Russian invasion of Ukraine: Hungary has \u201ctaken in refugees, but has not offered to assist Ukraine’s military resistance.\u201d The far-right outlet cited an \u201ceconomic growth rate at 7.1% in 2021 and unemployment at roughly 3%\u201d and a \u201cpro-family policy\u201d as explanations for Orb\u00e1n\u2019s success. (The US had 5.7% growth in 2021, and unemployment is now 3.6%, but it’s unlikely that Newsmax<\/strong> would encourage readers to draw conclusions about Joe Biden’s political fortunes from that.)<\/p>\n

‘Restore Christian cultures’\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"NY

New York Post<\/strong> (10\/2\/19<\/a>): “That liberal opinion would stigmatize Hungary for honoring the Continent\u2019s Christian patrimony only underscores liberal elites\u2019 extreme secularist cast of mind.”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The right-wing press in the United States has been cheerleading Orb\u00e1n for a while. The New York Post<\/b> (10\/2\/19<\/a>) scoffed at criticism of Hungary\u2019s restrictions on press and academic freedom, saying that Hungary\u2019s leaders \u201care determined to promote the economic well-being of their people, reverse demographic decline and restore Christian cultures badly damaged by a century of war and totalitarianism.\u201d Orb\u00e1n, the Post<\/b> (1\/3\/22<\/a>) noted, had the enthusiastic backing of former President Donald Trump. As war ravaged Ukraine, the Post<\/b> (3\/13\/22<\/a>) saw Hungary as the real victim of the hour, noting that the \u201cEU is trying to force Hungary to overturn laws passed by its parliament that ban the indoctrination of children in the finer points of gender fluidity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Review<\/b> (4\/5\/22<\/a>), perhaps the most established publication of the US right, justified Orb\u00e1n\u2019s win in part because of the opposition was worse\u2014yet it didn\u2019t name Jobbik, the neo-Nazi party, as the problem. Rather, the issue was that the opposition was \u201clinked with Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny, a former Communist Party apparatchik who morphed into Hungary\u2019s socialist prime minister from 2004 to 2009.\u201d<\/p>\n

In defending Orb\u00e1n, the Federalist<\/b> (8\/9\/21<\/a>) said he \u201cis not even right-wing in the American parlance,\u201d because instead he\u2019s a \u201cstatist Christian nationalist who uses the state power to impose (or roll back, depending on which side of the spectrum you are) a certain set of values.\u201d (The Federalist<\/b> here is imagining a world in which the US right does not seek to impose its values through state power.)<\/p>\n

‘Envy and inspiration’<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"UnHerd:

UnHerd<\/strong> (4\/4\/22<\/a>): “Where conservatives in Britain and America can win elections but find their governance impeded by a liberal powerbase in the media, NGOs and the judiciary…in Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Hungary the liberal intelligentsia\u2019s political powerbase has been dismantled and replaced with a confident new conservative elite.”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The conservative British website UnHerd<\/b> (4\/4\/22<\/a>) depicted Hungary as a sort of Shangri-La for Western conservatives, an illiberal regime when it comes to the rights of gays and immigrants that doesn\u2019t have to contend with the nuisances of opposition media and think tanks. The right wing in the US and Britain, it reported, sees today\u2019s Hungary as \u201can object of both envy and inspiration.\u201d It\u2019s not surprising, then, that the annual Conservative Political Action Conference is taking place this year in Budapest (Reuters<\/b>, 4\/5\/22<\/a>).<\/p>\n

New Yorker<\/b> commentator Masha Gessen (3\/2\/21<\/a>) has been one of the most prominent observers warning that Orb\u00e1n is seen as a model by the Trumpist right. The outpouring of celebration by the US right-wing press over Orb\u00e1n\u2019s victory is indicative of how important his disruption of European political order is as a blueprint for a cultural counter-revolution in the United States.<\/p>\n

The post Right-Wing US Media Applaud Hungary’s Orban as Example to Follow<\/a> appeared first on FAIR<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on FAIR<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Viktor Orb\u00e1n has been re-elected the Hungarian prime minister, a win for the global far-right movement. Now the European Union\u2019s longest-lasting leader, he has served as prime minister since 2010. Orb\u00e1n\u2019s rule in Hungary\u2014a member of both the EU and NATO\u2014has drawn scorn from the international community for its hostility toward the LGBT community [\u2026]<\/p>\n

The post Right-Wing US Media Applaud Hungary\u2019s Orban as Example to Follow<\/a> appeared first on FAIR<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1416,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1303,1691,259,333,262,263],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596638"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":600085,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596638\/revisions\/600085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}