good evening and welcome to tucker
carlson tonight
of the nearly 200 different countries on
the face of the earth precisely
one of them has an elected leader who
publicly identifies as a western-style
conservative
his name is victor orban he's the prime
minister of hungary
hungary is a small country in the middle
of central europe it has no navy it has
no nuclear weapons
its gdp is smaller than new york states
so you wouldn't think
leaders in washington would pay a lot of
attention to hungary
but they do obsessively by rejecting the
tenets of neoliberalism victor orban has
personally offended them and enraged
them
what does victor orban believe just a
few years ago his views would have
seemed
moderate and conventional he thinks
families are more important than
banks he believes countries need borders
for saying these things out loud
orbon has been vilified left-wing ngos
have denounced him as a fascist a
destroyer of democracy
last fall joe biden suggested he's a
totalitarian dictator
official washington despises victor
orban so
thoroughly that many including neocons
in and around the state department are
backing the open anti-semites who are
running against him in next april's
elections in hungary
we've watched all of this from the
united states and we've wondered if what
we've heard
could be true so this week we came to
hungary to see for ourselves we sat down
with orban for a couple of long
conversations including one this morning
in a moment we'll show you some of that
you can make up your own mind about it
but first a word about hungary even if
you understand that the american news
media lie it is always bewildering to
see the extent of their dishonesty
nothing prepares you for it
we've read many times how repressive
hungary is
freedom house ngo in washington that's
funded almost exclusively by the u s
government
describes hungary as much less free than
south africa
with fewer civil liberties that's not
just
wrong it's insane in fact if you live in
the united states
it is bitter to see the contrast between
say budapest
and new york city let's say you lived in
a big american city and you decided to
loudly and publicly attack
joe biden's policies his policies on
immigration or
covet or transgender athletes if you
kept talking like that you would likely
be
silenced by joe biden's allies in
silicon valley
if you kept it up you might very well
have to hire armed bodyguards
that's common in the u.s ask around but
it's unknown in hungary opposition
figures here don't worry that they will
be
hurt for their opinions neither by the
way is the prime minister orban
regularly drives himself with no
security
so who's freer in what country are you
more likely to
lose your job for disagreeing with the
ruling classes orthodoxy
the answer is pretty obvious though if
you're an american it is painful to
admit it as we have discovered
with that here's victor orban his accent
is pretty thick but his english is
precise
he's worth hearing mr prime minister
thank you very much
so in 2015 hundreds of thousands of
migrants appear on your southern border
they appear all over europe they stream
into germany the rest of the eu says
welcome please come we can handle it
we're strong enough hungary stands alone
and saying no
why why did you take a different
position on migration from other
european countries
that was the only reasonable behavior if
somebody without getting any
permission on behalf of the hungarian
state cross your border
you have to defend your country and to
say guys stop
and if you would like to cross or you
would like to come there's a legal
procedure
we have to do it but you can't cross you
know without any kind of limitation and
permission
and any contribution and control of the
hungarian state it's dangerous
you have to defend your people against
any danger
and you think you have a right to do
that of course
that's cut from the it's coming from the
god the nature so all arguments
with us because this is our country this
is our population this is our history
this is our language so we have to do
that of course if you are in trouble
and there is nobody closer to you than
the hungarians you have to be helpful
but you can't say simply that okay it's
a nice country i would like to come here
and to live here because it's a nicer
life
this is not a human right to come here
no way because it's our land
it's a nation it's a community families
history
tradition language saying what you just
said which i think will seem obvious to
a lot of our viewers was
very offensive to a lot of
countries in western europe to their
leaders because
because the year many european countries
decided
to open a new chapter of their own
history of the nation
they call it a new society
which is a post-christian post-national
societies they believe
firmly that if different communities
even huge number of let's say muslim
communities
and the original inhabitant
let's say christian communities are
mixed up
the outcome of this will be good
there is no answer whether it will be
good or bad but i think it's very risky
and the chance that it will be not good
but it will be very bad
is obvious and each nation has the right
to take this risk or to reject this risk
we hungarians decided not to take that
risk
to mix up our society that's the reason
why they attack hungary
so harshly and that's the reason why my
personal reputation is very bad
you know i'm treated like the black
sheep of the european union personally
and sometimes hungary as well
unfortunately so it has been six years
since germany since angela merkel made
the decision to let
many hundreds of thousands of migrants
into her country basically millions
non-german speakers
mostly muslim what have the effects been
in germany
you know diplomacy is uh
required it requires some val behavior
but it was their decision they took the
risk and now they got
what they have deserved that's their
life
i would not like to make any categories
to describe
what was the outcome of their decision i
only insist on that the hungarians has
the right to
make our own choice you first became
famous in the late 80s
as a student as one of the leaders
against soviet occupation of hungary
and you were a hero to many in the
united states
and at the time during the cold war we
paid close attention to hungary i think
the u.s government was on your side you
were on the side of the us government so
30 years later joe biden while running
for president
last year on abc news described you
suggested that you were and i'm quoting
a totalitarian thug
you see what's happening in everything
from belarus to poland to
to hungary and the rise of totalitarian
regimes in the world and as well as this
president embraces
all the thugs in the world is that
bewildering for you to see the change
and how do you respond to that
characterization
so first of all the reaction of that
kind of opinion here in hungary is
always not very
polite but you think who is that guy to
say that then we say okay he is the
president of united states so we should
take it seriously
but anyway somebody who does not speak
our language
has a very limited knowledge on hungary
even in the recent
uh several decades of our life don't
understanding us
obviously having an opinion like that
you know it's by itself it's a personal
insight for all the hungarians
but because he is the president of
united states we have to be very
modest we have to be very respectful
and we have to make a lot of things to
clarify that what he is doing is rather
a fake
we try to do that in a polite way
because we respect the americans
we respect the american democracy
american culture so
we would not like to destroy our
relationship because the bilateral
relationship with the americans is
basically
very good we are cooperating well on the
on the field of defense as nato allies
economic cooperation is excellent you
are big investor here
trade is going very well your
businessman is
finding a lot of possibilities here so
everything is fine
except the politics when the liberals
are in government in washington
that's the problem so we have to manage
that because the the
american hungarian good relationship is
a value even if the americans don't
perceive today it as it was previously
so
we have to save what we can save out of
it but it's a little strange i don't
think joe biden has ever referred to xi
jinping for example who has
murdered many of his political opponents
famously uh as a totalitarian thug
why would he single you and not just you
by the way the
the polish government as well the
problem is the success
so it's a real challenge for the liberal
thinkers
that what is going on in central europe
poland and in hungary as well
in hungary more outspoken probably we
are speaking probably too much anyway
uh on our intentions so so
what is going on here is building up a
society which is very successful
economically politically culturally even
in demography we have some success
family policy so what you can see here
could be described as a success story
but the fundamentals of this success as
totally different
than it is wished and runned and created
by the by many other western countries
so the the western liberals cannot
accept
that inside the western civilization
there is a conservative
national alternative which is more
successful
at everyday life at the level of them
than the liberal ones that's the reason
why they criticize us they are fighting
for themselves not against us
but we are an example that somebody or a
country
which is based on traditional values on
national identity
based on uh tradition of christianity
could be successful or sometimes even
more successful
than the leftist liberal government it's
interesting as an american to see this
so
the the american media the bid
administration the state department is
opposed to you
because they say that you're a
totalitarian thug
your opponents are a coalition of former
communists
and anti-semites is it strange to see
the american left
rooting for a coalition that includes
anti-semites yeah i i
let's say if you would have asked me
several years ago
whether could it happen that the
ex-communist
political forces and the anti-semite
right is forming a coalition and running
together at the election
against a pro-israeli and pro-american
pro-nato western-oriented government as
we have as we are
my answer would have been no it's
impossible but now the international
communities accept it you know so i
understand that here in hungary the
political parties would like to get to
poverty as soon as they can
therefore they try to make a broad
coalition
against the ruling government okay but
to be accepted that you know by the
international community so easily
i'm surprised i'm surprised especially
the behavior america is totally
new new experience for me it does seem
like hungary is moving in a completely
different direction
from the rest of the continent from the
rest of the western world
i mean do you think that 20 years from
now
that will be an unbridgeable divide i
mean where does that let's just
describe how i see it what i see that
in the central european countries
the country suffered the most because of
the soviet occupation
and communist dictatorship so in these
countries
my approach or the hungarian approach is
very popular
probably we have a majority in all of of
that societies
not only in poland and hungary they are
more moderate i mean the others are more
moderate but
but if you understand what they are
doing
what are the fundamentals and their
motivations is basically belonging to
the same political family anyway yes
on the western society there is a lot of
people
millions and millions of people who
disagree
uh the direction of the policy taken
at this moment which is against the
family or not respecting the families
which is more uh based on migration
which is more open
society which is more welfare and so
once and so on so i don't
don't say that the political competition
is over in the western european
societies
so i see chances and the key country is
italy at this moment
where the fight and the competition is
very open so i can see
chances in the western countries also
that they are able to change their
policy
from liberal to conservative or from
liberal leftists
to christian democrats the chance is
there but we are not
internationally well organized so the
forthcoming years are really
exciting i i've noticed in the last few
nights in budapest i've run into a
number of americans who have come here
because they want to be around people
who agree with them who agree with you
do you see budapest as
as a kind of capital of this kind of
thinking
the capital of that kind of thinking or
one of the capitals because the other
central european countries are also very
competitive and producing very nice
ideas and
uh organizing that kind of communities
of conservative and
and christian democrats thinkers as we
do
uh we cooperate with that countries so
that kind of networks are getting closer
to each other it's getting a real
more and more real central european
network
but not only thinkers uh ordinary
citizens
average citizens are moving to central
european countries
it's not too uh it's not too
dynamic at this moment but the signs are
clear many christian families and
conservative families who think
that western europe is not secure enough
the future is unstable
uh you know the the public security is
not provided
and the ideological direction of the
countries or the basic values of the
countries build on is changing not
to their taste or their intention
they are looking for other places so if
you go to the hungarian countryside you
can find
west european families who move to
hungary first to have the second house
because
inside european union we have a free
movement so first to have second house
and then
spending more and more time here so we
can't exclude
uh the future of the european history
when
there will be a new migration from west
to the east within europe
the christians and the conservatives try
to find a better home
we can't exclude that so up until
very recently hungary which is a small
nation 10 million people
had two big nuclear-armed allies the
united states and israel you were
probably netanyahu's closest ally in
europe you were close to donald trump
both of them are gone where does that
where does that leave you we are not
very much fortunate
in the recent years because donald trump
was a great friend of hungary
he was very much supportive to us not
just personally but politically also so
there was a
good friendship between the two
countries also
and you know first america
america first is a very positive message
here in central europe
because it means if for donald trump
america first
for us hungary could be first as well
and let's cooperate on that basis
right so so that was a very good foreign
policy very effective
and we cooperated very well um
the same with the with vivid netanyahu
who is a good friend of the hungarians
and when he was in pablo he always
invest a lot of energy to have a good
relation with the central european
countries
we respect it very much but he lost also
so the hungarian conservative christian
judeo-christian democratic thinking
lost two major international
uh supporters and the opponents came
into power
so this is a totally new circumstance
around hungary
for me as a politician it's a strong
challenge
how to handle it you've got an election
coming up in april
um are you worried that there will be
international
interference in your election in in
hungary
that will happen we are not we are not
worried of that we are prepared for that
uh obviously the international left will
do
everything what they can do probably
even more uh to change the government
here in hungary we are aware of that and
we are prepared for that
how to take the fight and fight back
when the president of the united states
describes you as
a totalitarian thug very serious thing
to say about somebody
i would i would note i mean that
suggests that you know why wouldn't the
the biden state department work to
prevent you from being re-elected
i think sooner or later the americans we
realize that issues in hungary must be
decided by the hungarians and it's
better even for the leftist
liberal government in the united states
to have a good partner which is a
conservative christian democratic
supported long term by the people
hungarian people it's better to have
that
than a government which is supported by
america and take the position but losing
after several months
and creating destabilization and
uncertainty
so uh a not loved but stable partner is
better than the uncertain new one that
i hope the americans will understand it
no wonder they don't want you to hear
what he says
you don't have to watch your country
collapse you don't have to have leaders
who
hate the population or divide their own
people against each other
who make the country worse who open the
borders who
increase crime who encourage people to
live on the sidewalk and do drugs
if there's any lesson of talking to
victor orban maybe it's that the
conversation went on for quite some time
one thing we learned man of the efforts
to
unseat him intense and stealthy we'll
have a lot more on that
on tucker carlson originals we're making
that documentary now hey sean hannity
here hey
click here to subscribe to fox news
youtube page
and catch our hottest interviews and
most compelling analysis
you will not get it anywhere else