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Tucker Carlson, who has been using social media to communicate his patriotic views to hundreds of millions of people, is the subject of much attention because he speaks more honestly than anyone else, political scientist Tamás Lánczi told Kossuth Radio’s Sunday News program.
Tamás Lánczi talked about an interview the prominent American media personality and influential American conservative political commentator recently gave to Hungarian weekly Mandiner. Asked how much influence the American public figure can have on US public opinion, the Hungarian political scientist said that Carlson is originally a popular journalist who is extremely liked in the US because
he “speaks much more honestly than anyone else.”
He added that it was this honesty that had become too much for the media, which was why they were trying to take Carlson down in America. However, they had not reckoned with the “second public sphere,” social media, through which he would reach many more people than he had done in his former job at Fox News in the US.
According to Lánczi,
the opinion that Carlson represents is in fact like the “voice of free America,” because he himself believes that in American public opinion, publicity, media, and politics today, only the mainstream opinion dictated by Washington is allowed to be represented, and alternative opinions are suppressed.
He pointed out that Carlson is no longer a journalist, but much more than that: he is a serious political opinion leader who is “slowly rising to the same level” as former President Donald Trump, since the “tribunal” role he claims to play is very popular in the United States.
Lánczi underlined that the media personality is a harsh and well-founded critic of US politics. In Carlson’s view,
the two major parties have divided the American political space, organized themselves into a cartel, and the possibility of democratic will-building has been limited. He believes that a narrow circle decides what will happen, and that voters do not really care which side they vote for,”
the political scientist said.
Speaking about Hungarian-American relations and the Hungarian government’s sympathy for the Republican Party, Lánczi stressed that Trump currently represents the most favorable policy in the United States in terms of Hungary’s interests. He believes that it is logical for the Hungarian government to support the Trump wing of the Republican Party, as this is in Hungary’s interest.
As president, Trump did not obstruct Hungary’s ambitions and Hungary was able to cooperate well with his administration, whereas the Biden government is pursuing a policy of interference in many countries, he noted. As an example, he cited the fact that US Ambassador David Pressman is taking a stand in Hungary, expressing political sympathy and meeting with chief justices.
Instead of acting in the interests of the US, the embassy “is acting in the interests of the radical, liberal wing of the Democratic Party, aggressively trying to implement its agenda,”
the political scientist argued.
He remarked that Hungarian diplomacy tries to take into account what is on offer in the US “political market” and tries to choose the most favorable one. At the moment, Trump carries this promise, he added.
During the discussion, the interview in the latest issue of Mandiner was recalled, in which Carlson spoke openly about the hypocrisy of America, i.e. that the United States is good and anyone who stands in the way of the world order it leads is evil, in the meantime busying itself with overthrowing governments.
Lánczi added that
the policy the United States has pursued over the last 15-20 years has been ineffective. It has been involved in many conflicts – referring to Afghanistan, Syria, and North Africa – which have been bloody, disastrous failures from a Western point of view, resulting in both material and human losses.
Carlson, on the other hand, the political scientist continued, is using moral reasoning to appeal to people’s hearts. He is saying that what America is doing is wrong, but it can also be said that what America is doing is not good for the Western way of life.
The political scientist pointed out that Carlson is a “true patriot who criticizes the US administration” and wants the US to return to the way it was before the 2000s. By this, he means that
it should not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, it should gather new allies and it should represent American interests instead of promoting the Democrats’ approach.
There is a lot of similarity between the Carlson’s criticisms and – in a much more discreet way – the Hungarian government’s, and “there are many similarities between the Hungarian and American people, so there is plenty of room for cooperation,” concluded Lánczi.
Featured image: Facebook/Mathias Corvinus Collegium – MCC