Orbán aide resigns, calls her boss' recent speech 'Nazi talk'—but he's still invited to CPAC

[Brexiter]

Voters didn’t pay all that much attention when Donald Trump’s Hitler goof rallies plumbed ever-lower depths of hate and bigotry—or when it was reported that he literally kept a book of Hitler speeches in his bedside cabinet, for that matter. Will they pay attention now, after the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) upcoming featured speaker—whose home country conservatives recently traveled to in order to fete him—has been denounced by one of his own people for promoting “Nazi talk” that’s “worthy of Goebbels”?

Hello! Nazi sympathizers on Aisle 2! Is this thing on? Hello!?

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán caused a bit of a kerfuffle over the weekend when he delivered some extra-saucy remarks about preserving the racial purity and heritage of his country.

Politico:

In a speech at a summer event in Romania on Saturday, the Hungarian far-right prime minister said migration has split Europe and the West in two, arguing that countries where European and non-European people mingle “are no longer nations: they are nothing more than a conglomeration of peoples.”

“In the Carpathian Basin, we are not mixed race,” Orbán said, referring to a region shared by Romania and Hungary. “We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become mixed race.”

For context, not only did CPAC, the self-described “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world,” invite this guy to their upcoming August event in Dallas, they love him so much they took their show on the road to Budapest, Hungary, in May so they could personally marinate in all that sweet, sweet proto-fascism.

That’s fairly alarming, because Orbán, it turns out, is not a big fan of democracy, per The Washington Post:

Orban’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he’ll be joined by former President Donald Trump and right-wing icons such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is the most dramatic indication yet of how a leader criticized for pushing anti-democratic principles has become a hero to segments of the Republican Party.


Orban has curbed immigration and stymied those who envision a more middle-of-the-road European democracy for their country. He’s done so by seizing control of Hungary’s judiciary and media, leading many international analysts to label him as the face of a new wave of authoritarianism. He also is accused of enabling widespread corruption and nepotism, using state resources to enrich a tight circle of political allies.

Hmm, why does that all sound so familiar?

Of course, conservatives in our country appear perfectly willing these days to bring brown shirts and jackboots back into fashion, but Zsuzsa Hegedüs, one of Orban’s own advisers, thought his comments went much too far, and on Tuesday, she handed in her resignation. From Politico:

Hegedüs’s resignation letter — filled with ire — was instantly leaked, turning it into a public excoriation of Orbán’s speech.

“Worthy of Goebbels,” she said in the letter, which was seen by Hungarian magazine HVG. A “pure Nazi text,” she added.

“That you are able to deliver an openly racist speech would not occur to me even in a nightmare,” marveled Hegedüs, who has been working for Orbán for over a decade.

Excuse me, but where has Hegedüs been? Open racism is tres chic these days. In fact, Republicans are so racist now, that you have to think even Ben Carson will eventually catch on. Sure, it may be days or even weeks after he burns a cross on his own lawn, but still. He’s bound to get there eventually, right?

Before Trump, the GOP at least pretended they’d need to confront a demographic wave that was certain to empower traditionally marginalized people. Now they appear to be counting on using the Supreme Court and other government institutions to establish permanent white minority rule. And they’re not doing a particularly good job of hiding it, either.

Again, a foreign leader’s own adviser just compared her boss to Goebbels—and that Goebbels-adjacent jabroni is still invited to CPAC.

I sure hope people are paying attention to more than just inflation these days, because exchanging our centuries-old democracy for the—false, mind you—promise of marginal savings on family-sized bags of Funyuns seems like a pretty raw deal to me.


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