Prominent American political commentator and show host Tucker Carlson recently had historian Darryl Cooper on his show. In a clip shared by The Tucker Carlson Network’s X (Twitter) page, the two discussed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary.
Carlson has interviewed PM Orbán multiple times before. He did so on his old primetime show on Fox News in August 2021; as well as on his new independent online programme two years later, in August 2023.
On the latest episode on the Tucker Carlson Network, the guest Cooper brought up PM Orbán, saying that he believes that American intelligence would take him out if ‘they thought they could get away with it’.
“I know Orbán very well, and he’s hardly like a right-wing crazy, he’s very moderate, and kind of liberal in an 80s way,’ Carlson responded to the suggestion.
Cooper then told Carlson that he believes the reason Orbán has not been assassinated yet is because they know that ‘his chief opposition is further to the right of him’. This, however, is not correct.
This was the case in the 2018 Hungarian election, when the far-right Jobbik party led by Gábor Vona came in second behind the Fidesz-KDNP coalition. In 2022 a conservative independent Péter Márki-Zay led the united opposition ticket. He did make an infamous statement about welcoming anyone in his coalition ‘from fascists to communists,’ so in that sense, he could be considered further to the right than Orbán. However, based on the high amounts of campaign contributions coming from America in the 2022 election, it was also clear that the US establishment preferred him. Right now, based on the European Parliamentary election results, it is Péter Magyar who has the most support on the opposition side. He recently broke away from the Fidesz-aligned business network, and was working as a political consultant for Fidesz MEP János Áder (who later became President of Hungary) in 2009–2010. So, he too could be considered right-wing; however, since he has never articulated his positions on main social issues clearly, there is nothing that suggests that he would be further right than Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party.
‘Trump, Orbán, and Putin, I can say—this my perception of all three of them—none of them is particularly ideological, all three are pretty sincere nationalists.
Not like crazed ideological nationalist, but just, sort of, want to do the best for their countries. None of them is a religious nut, and none of them is especially right-wing. In the 1984–1985–1986 context, they would be sort of moderate, maybe conservative Democrats, liberal Republicans,’ Carlson told his guest on the podcast. It is interesting to note that Carlson has interviewed all three of the world leaders he just described.
The clip shared by the TCN on X ends with Cooper sharing his views that in post-World War II Europe and America, a lot of right-wing opinions are unjustly vilified and suppressed.
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