August 6, 2021

Joy Ann Reid absolutely lit into Tucker Carlson and his Disneyland-like vacation to Hungary, a country currently run by a straight-up autocrat, far right, nationalist, hateful bigot. And oh, he is running his show from there for the entire week, kind of like a week-long advertisement for Victor Orbán and his personal style of bigotry and fascism.

So everyone needs a break and some quality time with family and friends. As I said at the top of the show, I took a little summer vacay with my family and then with friends last week. Now I hear that just the other day our friend Tuckums also went on vacation with one of his friends in Hungary. But Tuck Tuck's friend happens to be a Hungarian autocrat, Victor Orban. The Prime Minister who's waged a decade-long assault on democracy.

His rap sheet reads like a wish list for aspiring dictators. He's compromised the independence of the judiciary by creating his own court system. He's cracked down on the media taking control of 90% of Hungary's news outlets so they only put on his right-wing propaganda. And he's accused of spying on independent journalists who might report negatively about his government. He's tightened his grip over Hungary's electoral system, effectively rigging the game in his favor. He's pushed a school curriculum that puts a warped form of patriotism over critical thinking. In fact the Hungarian state controls most of the academic content in that country. No surprise, that curriculum is now whitewashing unflattering episodes from their history. And when it comes to immigration immigration, he is pushing ethno-nationalism. He describes Middle Eastern refugees as Muslim invaders. He's embraced the far right concept of replacement theory, pushing ethnic purity over diversity.

Orban -- as he said in 2018, "We do not want our own color, traditions, and national culture to be mixed with those of others." Oh, did I mention that he intends to stay in power until at least 2030? Under Victor Orban, Hungary isn't just back sliding toward authoritarianism rule, it's already there. According to Tucker Carlson, who surprise, surprise, digs all of those ideas, if it walks like Mussolini and talks like Mussolini, it's still not Mussolini.

(VIDEO OF TUCKEMS) "Hungary is not an authoritarian country. I think that's a false statement that you made."

Well, Tucker Carlson, he doesn't just approve of Victor Orban's Hungary, he's hosting his show from there all week and open plea promoting Hungary's regime as a model for this country. It's an ugly trend we've seen from the American right for some time. The architect of Donald Trump's rise to power, the man who bragged that he made breitbart.com the home of the nationalist alt-right reportedly once called Orban "Trump before Trump."

We got another glimpse of the right's descent yesterday from crypt keeper Stephen Miller who, like Orban, has long sought to curtail and even end legal immigration, purportedly to keep the U.S. population as European as possible. As it happens, there's a name for what this brand of the American right is more -- you heard it on this show earlier and that word is "Fascist." It's time we started calling it what it is because it's dangerous. It's in our midst and it's the absolute worst. And that's tonight's "reidout."

Tuckems, you find the bottom of the bottom and you somehow manage to dig an even deeper hole to crawl into. With your rat-faced face and your "oops did I shart when I meant to fart" expressions and high pitched, not quite done with puberty voice, you are THE worst of the week. And I suspect this won't be the last week you manage to get that honor.

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