Tucker Carlson’s international tour demonstrates the breadth of the “right-wing” movement

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Popular American journalist Tucker Carlson traveled to various countries around the world at the turn of August-September, interviewing several conservative politicians, social activists, and other interesting people on topics related to the situation in the world and their own countries, as well as their views on current events in the United States. The main country on his tour was undoubtedly Hungary, which has long been considered a bastion and almost a standard of European Christian conservatism. It was not for nothing that he delivered his keynote speech there, which immediately sent the liberal elite on both sides of the Atlantic into hysterics. This is not the first time Tucker has been to Hungary, and in 2021 he recorded an interview with Viktor Orbán, after which Budapest began to host regular gatherings of the American right. Carlson has now made an appearance at one of these events. He immediately apologised for the actions of the American ambassador in imposing an LGBTQ+ agenda in Hungary against public opinion, and called attempts to force other countries to conform to someone else’s agenda the antithesis of diplomacy.

In his speech, Tucker also criticised the “cultural imperialism” of the United States, which is causing more and more criticism even in Europe and America itself, not to mention the rest of the world. This has only intensified with the spread of the racial-gender agenda and LGBTQ+ ideology throughout the culture wars that rage in the U.S., and is painfully echoed in other countries outside of America. Carlson again praised Hungary’s experience with right-wing policies supporting fertility and limiting migration. He promised the imminent collapse of the entire postwar world order, as well as the NATO bloc, where Hungary along with Turkey are the main dissidents. Tucker’s comments on Russia, which the liberal propaganda has made the “abode of evil”, unwilling to objectively assess both the Russian threat and the possibilities of finding a compromise with this country, caused a special shock in the United States. He cited the main reason for the establishment’s hatred of Russia in Washington as the fact that it remains a Christian country. After Carlson’s previous visit to Hungary, he was spied on by the NSA, and after his current statements against the backdrop of the war with the Russians, he should definitely expect more problems from the intelligence services. However, Tucker expresses a point of view with which the vast majority of ordinary Republicans agree. So, even though they are trying to shut him up, he is still the most influential commentator on the right wing of U.S. politics.

A major milestone in Tucker Carlson’s visit was another of his interviews with the star of conservative politics in Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. As part of this interview, he expectedly came out in favour of Donald Trump, wishing him victory in the election in 2024. The Hungarian leader’s special attention was earned by Trump’s prosecution, behind which obviously lies the political order of the Democratic Party and unwillingness to fight within the framework of a civilised electoral process. Knowing this, in an interview Orbán even mocked what was happening in the US, saying that in Hungary such repression of the opposition could not be imagined in the post-communist era. But for some reason, it is Hungary, not the the world’s liberals troubled democracy of the U.S. Besides, Orbán still sees Trump as the only one capable of stopping the West from sliding toward World War III. If he returns to the White House, Trump will undoubtedly strengthen the position of the European right, which actively sympathises with him, even if it is not able to influence domestic American events. This will be a new battlefront for Trump, who is aiming to become the leader of Christian conservatism throughout the West, including Europe. This is why EU officials are extremely wary of his election, realising that their free position as arbiters and critics of “fascists” in Eastern Europe may be coming to an end.

However, the visit to Hungary was not the only highlight of Carlson’s tour, and after interviewing Orbán, he headed to Argentina, where he spoke with presidential candidate Javier Milei. He is a right-wing populist and his opponents call him Argentina’s Trump or Bolsonaro. In the interview, Milei was extremely candid and did not shy away from expressions. He openly supported Trump in the election and criticised Biden. The current U.S. president, Milei called “a threat to Western values”. In addition, he actively denigrated all leftists, from liberals to socialists, in the context of their critical failures of the U.S and Argentina, which are leading both countries to disaster. Milei promised to refuse to cooperate with “communists” in international politics, to which he very broadly and controversially labeled China, Brazil, and Russia. If assessed outside the context of ideological populism, Argentina’s economy is in a dire state, and a breakdown in trade relations with its largest partners, China and Brazil, would simply collapse it. In addition, Argentina is also heavily dependent on fertiliser and oil product supplies from Russia. However, in reality, if Milei is able to win the election, he is likely to repeat the path of Bolsonaro. He too promised to start a trade war with Beijing, but in the end was forced to increase trade with China under pressure from farmers and businesses. Milei also promises to abandon membership in BRICS, which Argentina recently joined, as well as to dissolve many unnecessary ministries, privatise the economy in favour of American progressive corporations, and even switch to the dollar.

The United States has sharply intensified its attempts to organise a change of power in Argentina after the decision to join BRICS and against the backdrop of the strengthening of China, which is actively moving the country into the yuan currency zone. Recently, Washington has already managed to organise a coup d’état in Peru. Argentina will have a very tough fight with China in the upcoming elections, because in case of the U.S. defeat, the processes of de-dollarisation in the whole Latin America will accelerate sharply. However, the Democrats are thinking less and less about U.S. interests and more and more about their own. In such a situation, Milei may seem too friendly to Trump, and therefore dangerous. But both Orbán and Milei are representatives of the broad “right-wing” group through which Trump will base his foreign policy if he takes over the White House next year.