Viktor Orban is fighting for his place alongside Putin and Trump (Or DeSantis) to make fascist populism safe for the 21st Century. Orban, like Trump, must follow some rules with respect to 21st Century fascism. Unlike the old school 20th Century fascists, the current movement’s racism and anti-Semitism are denied, with a  wink, rather than expressed as part of a platform as it was 100 years ago. Orban isn’t as practiced as Trump and DeSantis at the “wink” part yet and has gotten himself in trouble recently over blatantly racist comments about mixed-race marriages and the pluralism in Western Europe. This last weekend, at CPAC, Orban took his “Christian” (White) label out for a spin to explain how Christianity protects one from racism. A Christian politician cannot be racist:

From The Christian Post:

Following criticism over a recent speech in which he attacked what he called an “ideological move” by the “internationalist Left” to claim that Europe is inherently “populated by peoples of mixed race,” Orbán pushed back against allegations of racism over his statement about not wanting to become “mixed race,” saying, “a Christian politician cannot be racist.”

“I can already see tomorrow’s headlines: ‘Far-right European racist and anti-Semite strongman, the Trojan horse of Putin, holds speech at conservative conference,’” he said. “But I don’t want to give them any ideas. They know best how to write fake news.”

“They hate me and slander me and my country as they hate you and slander you and the America you stand for. We all know how this works,” he said.

Correct. We do know how this works. We see how populism has worked the world over and how fascism quickly follows. One of the most necessary elements of fascism is a foil, an “other,” people who are the root of the country’s problems. In the United States, the MAGAs point to the “woke,” which includes liberals, every race except Caucasians, any religion except Christianity as it’s espoused by these people, LGBTQ, Jews, and many more as “others,” the cause of all their problems.

Orban recognizes the critical role racism plays in an authoritarian government. He is just not very practiced. Of course, increasingly, there’s less and less need to be sophisticated about it. Trump broke through a lot of previous norms. Orban will be fine… and that’s the problem. What was he doing at CPAC in Texas?

Making fascism safe for the 21st Century, among friends.

🇭🇺 WATCH: Hungary's Viktor Orbán says to the CPAC conference in Texas: "don't worry, a Christian politician cannot be racist."pic.twitter.com/xGR9J9xICI

— TLDR News EU (@TLDRNewsEU) August 4, 2022

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman