CPAC Under Fire For Event in Hungary: GOP ‘Launders Its Support for Putin Through’ Orban

Alex GriffingApr 6th, 2022, 3:22 pm
 

The American Conservative Union Foundation’s upcoming CPAC session in Hungary is under fire from critics on the right and the left as many view the event as a wink and nod to right-wing authoritarianism.

“CPAC goes full Orban,” wrote conservative pundit Charlie Sykes on Wednesday, arguing, “The right launders its support for Putin through the Hungarian autocrat.”

Reuters reported on the upcoming event on Tuesday, the day after Hungarian leader Viktor Orban was reelected in a stunning (and questionable) victory and secured a fourth consecutive term.

Orban is now set to deliver the keynote address at the CPAC event.

“America’s most prominent conservative gathering, founded on ideals of personal liberty and limited government, convenes in Budapest next month to celebrate a European leader accused of undermining democracy and individual rights,” wrote Reuters, setting the scene.

The article explained the stakes of the meeting and noted the event is seen by some “Republicans as a test of how closely American conservatives are willing align themselves with a global movement of far-right, Russia-friendly strongmen embraced by former U.S. President Donald Trump.”

Orban, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, decried in his victory speech what he sees as the forces of liberalism that aligned to defeat him and his Christian nationalist project, including Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Orban listed off a series of enemies: “left at home, the international left all around, the Brussels bureaucrats, the [George] Soros empire with all its money, the international mainstream media, and in the end, even the Ukrainian president.”

“Increasingly, the right has also decided to launder its Putinism though their support for Putin’s leading European ally, Viktor Orban,” concluded Sykes of the upcoming event, a sentiment which was echoed across Twitter.

“63 GOPers yesterday voted against supporting NATO. Trump & Fox actively defend Putin. CPAC is holding its next big meeting in Hungary featuring Putin puppet Viktor Orban. The GOP is Putin’s party. It’s not a theory, not a slogan. It’s the ground truth,” argued David Rothkopf, a former editor of Foreign Policy.

“Even after all this time, even after all I’ve seen, I really thought this was hyperbole. Our CPAC would-be dictators, holding a conference in Hungary with already-dictator Viktor Orban,” weighed in former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, adding, “Americans who go to Hungary for this should NOT be readmitted here.”

Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell added, “In February, many were galled by the participation of MTG, Gosar, and other elected GOP officials at the white-nationalist rival convention to the much larger CPAC event cross town. But the identity of the two confabs now seems to be merging.”

MSNBC anchor Katie S. Phang said, “Well it’s totally on brand for CPAC.”

Journalist Ben Jacobs added, “CPAC had long been trending towards European right wing populist and away from Reagan Republicanism. I wrote about this trend last year for @NYMag.”

On the right, the National Review’s Jay Nordlinger joked Budapest is too liberal a city for the event.

“Two thoughts on the upcoming CPAC meeting in Budapest: (1) Better than in Russian-occupied Kyiv. (2) Hey, C-packers: Why Budapest, that glorious, liberal, European, cosmopolitan capital? Why not out in ‘real Hungary’? Red-hatted Hungary, so to speak? Don’t cuck out!”

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Alex Griffing - Senior Editor

Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing