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Your Call

US conservatives proudly embrace authoritarianism by hosting CPAC in Hungary

Viktor Orbán speaking at CPAC Hungary on 19 May 2022 in Budapest – Photo: Zoltán Fisher / The Prime Minister's Press Office /MTI

On this edition of Your Call, we'll find out why top US conservatives are having their latest Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) conference in Budapest, which kicked off today.

This morning's keynote speaker was Hungary's authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who said conservatives in Europe and the US must fight together to "reconquer" institutions in Washington and Brussels from liberals who threaten Western civilization, according to Reuters.

In a speech earlier his week, Orban embraced the racist "great replacement" ideology, called the spread of LGBTQ+ rights "gender madness," and said the West is "committing suicide" through immigration. What does this say about the direction the hard-right is headed in the US?

Guests:

Sarah Posner, journalist with Type Investigations and author of Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump

Flora Garamvolgyi, journalist covering Central and Eastern Europe who writes about Hungary for The Guardian

Kathryn Joyce, investigative reporter at Salon and author of Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement

Web Resources:

Reuters: Orban tells CPAC conservatives in Europe, U.S. must align "troops" for 2024 votes

The Washington Post: The Orbanization of America: How to capture a democracy

The New Republic: The New Right’s Grim, Increasingly Popular Fantasies of an International Nationalism

The Guardian: Orbán and US right to bond at Cpac in Hungary over ‘great replacement’ ideology

The New York Times: In Hungary, Viktor Orban Remakes an Election to His Liking

Eurozine: Viktor Orbán’s war on the media

The Washington Post: The Orbanization of America: Florida shadows Hungary’s war on LGBTQ rights

The Guardian: Viktor Orbán: no tax for Hungarian women with four or more children

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.
Bee Soll is a producer with Your Call at KALW, and a producer, writer, and editor at KCBS Radio in San Francisco. She is a former reporter for Crosscurrents and contributor at KPFA Radio.