With Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaking at CPAC in Texas on Thursday, CNN ran a segment on Thursday morning’s New Day which took Orban’s recent controversial comments that “we do not want to become peoples of mixed race” and ran with them, heavily implying that Orban would unleash a second Holocaust on the world if Hungary’s economy slips into a recession.
CNN substitute host John Avlon introduced the topic by proclaiming the litany of sins Viktor Orban has committed, “whose government is accused of undermining women’s rights, LGBT rights, controlling the media, and much, much more.”
CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman then began the segment:
Even the critics of the Prime Minister here concede that over the last 12 years some of his policies have managed to help improve the lot of many Hungarians. Yet despite that of late as the economy has begun to falter, Viktor Orban has resorted to rhetoric reminiscent to some of the darkest days in this country’s history.
Calling Orban’s stop at Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey “a meeting of the minds,” Wedeman then brought up Orban’s “race-mixing” comments at a Hungarian cultural and political festival held in central Romania, where “The hard right, anti-immigrant Prime Minister recently set off alarm bells with his speech laced with sinister undertones.”
The camera then cut to Wedeman walking along the shore of the Danube river alongside a row of metal shoes. Wedeman explained the shoes’ significance, “Viktor Orban’s talk about racial mixing, about racial purity, stir up dark, still-fresh memories. These metal shoes commemorate the spot where in the final months of World War II Hungarian Nazis murdered thousands of Jews.”
Wedeman then paid a visit to the Dohany Street Synagogue, where the Synagogue’s Chief Rabbi described his congregation: “They are older people. Most of them are Holocaust survivors. They are worried. They heard this before. And it didn’t end well.”
To be clear, Orban’s race-mixing comments caused one of his own advisers to quit in disgust, and suggest the speech had Nazi echoes. But to imply that Orban is prone to unleash a new Holocaust on Hungary’s Jewish population is, as they say, “without evidence.”
Hungary is currently rated as the second-safest country in Europe for Jews, second only to Denmark.
As for Orban’s own supposed anti-Semitism, Orban’s cardinal sin appears to be attacking leftist billionaire George Soros (which would make nearly every pro-Israel conservative an anti-Semite).
Wedeman concluded his hit piece with a serene view of the Danube river, and mused, “Evening and city residents savor the soft breezes off the Danube. History flows through this city, the past never far from the surface…and with a possible recession on the horizon, the fear is the Prime Minister is looking for scapegoats, something this part of Europe has seen in the past.”
As the video concluded, Avlon proclaimed, “Ben Wedeman, looking at a liberal democracy and the echoes of history.”
The liberal cable networks have a nasty habit of finding “echoes” of Hitler and the Holocaust as a tactic of shaming attempts to limit immigration.
This insane Nazification of a foreign leader was made possible by Sleep Number and Tums. Their contact information is linked.
Click “Expand” to see the relevant transcript.
CNN’s New Day
08/04/22
6:47:50 AM ETJOHN AVLON: Happening today, the Conservative Political Action Conference — or CPAC — kicks off in Texas. Now, the usual speakers will be there, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Ted Cruz, and so on, but so will a controversial foreign leader, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, whose government is accused of undermining women’s rights, LGBT rights, controlling the media, and much, much more.
CNN’s Ben Wedeman is live in Budapest. Ben?
BEN WEDEMAN: Yeah, John, despite all of that — uh, even the critics of the Prime Minister here concede that over the last 12 years some of his policies have managed to help improve the lot of many Hungarians. Yet despite that of late as the economy has begun to falter, Viktor Orban has resorted to rhetoric reminiscent to some of the darkest days in this country’s history.
[Cuts to video]
You could call it a meeting of like minds. Video from his official Facebook page shows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visiting former President Donald Trump Tuesday at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, on his way to this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas.
The hard right, anti-immigrant Prime Minister recently set off alarm bells with his speech laced with sinister undertones. “We Europeans, Orban said, “are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race.” He has since come out insisting he isn’t racist or anti-Semitic. The damage, however, is done.
Viktor Orban’s talk about racial mixing, about racial purity, stir up dark, still-fresh memories. These metal shoes commemorate the spot where in the final months of World War II Hungarian Nazis murdered thousands of Jews.
It’s time for evening prayer in Budapest’s historic Dohany Street Synagogue. Rabbi Robert Frölich said Orban’s words hit too close to home.
CHIEF RABBI ROBERT FRÖLICH: You saw this small congregation here, who come here every evening, every morning — eh, to pray. They are older people. Most of them are Holocaust survivors. They are worried. They heard this before. And it didn’t end well.
WEDEMAN: Often described as an authoritarian, Orban has been in power for the last 12 years, reelected in April. His economic policies have won him support, but with inflation rising that’s beginning to change, says economist Zoltan Pogatsa.
ZOLTAN POGATSA: In the longer run, yes, I think Orban remains popular, but at this particular point in time I think more people are skeptical about him than ever before.
WEDEMAN: In Budapest’s central market, opinions vary.
HUNGARIAN MALE: To be honest, Viktor Orban is not liked even in our own country.
WEDEMAN: Margareta Krienich (?) the butcher begs to differ. Viktor Orban is doing everything for his people, she says. He loves his people.
Evening and city residents savor the soft breezes off the Danube. History flows through this city, the past never far from the surface.
[End of video]
And — and with a possible recession on the horizon, the fear is the Prime Minister is looking for scapegoats, something this part of Europe has seen in the past. John?
AVLON: Ben Wedeman, looking at a liberal democracy and the echoes of history. Thank you very much.