Think-tank head: Aim is to organise global coalition of anti-globalist forces

Szantho noted that the first CPAC Hungary conference in 2022 had served to “extend a hand” to conservatives across the Atlantic and in Europe, offering the trinity of “God, country and family” as a “civilisational minimum”.

Last year’s event, he said, had been about deepening cooperation on the right, and this year was about “springing into action”. “We must drain the swamp in Brussels in June and in Washington in November,” he said.

Szantho said “Budapest isn’t Brussels”, which he said was proven by the fact that the reason why CPAC Hungary could not accommodate any more people was that the event was already full, and not because the police wanted to shut it down.

He said “Bolshevik has become bolshe-woke”, adding that the reason why there was a need for “de-wokeifying” was that “neomarxist social engineering” was working to undermine order, freedom and security just as Marxist social engineering had aimed to do a century ago.

Szantho said conservatives believed in the order of creation and natural design, the freedom of nations, loyalty within the community, the fundamentals of peace and security, and in “the need to protect our borders, our families and our children”, adding that they were pro-life.

Matt Schlapp, the head of the American Conservative Union and the CPAC Foundation, praised Hungary for “setting an example in standing up for everything that’s important, a wonderful ally and inspiration for Americans”. Schlapp said a “huge fight for civilisation” was ongoing in the US. “If the US falls, freedom is not far behind,” he said.

Schlapp said the political and culture wars in the US were in reality rooted in spiritual and psychological issues. People in the US were being intimidated, “they are trying to get us to hate our country, to bankrupt Americans who are patriotic … the media is full of lies,” he said.

At the same time, Schlapp said leftists had gone too far and “made fatal errors”: they had underestimated the popularity of former President Donald Trump, opened the borders, targeted the sexual identity of children, and allowed “anti-Semitism spewing out into the streets.”

“But the virtue of hope is now overtaking fear”, Schlapp said. He said that if re-elected, Donald Trump would close the borders and “will protect our children and our grandchildren from these terrible and false ideologies”.