Popular American editor and author Rod Dreher has announced he is moving to Hungary to escape the “soft totalitarianism emerging in the United States.”
Dreher said he “fell in love” with the country last year, which is currently under the leadership of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
“I fell in love with Hungary in the summer of 2021; I discovered that it really is a great country,” said Dreher.
The conservative writer announced his decision to move to Hungary with public service Kossuth Rádió during the National Conservationism conference in Florida.
In the interview, Dreher called for conservatives to build a “network against globalism.”
The writer also warned that a soft version of totalitarianism is emerging in the United States.
“The basis of the woke ideology is, on the one hand, that we must protect the weak because they are victims,” he said.
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“As Christians, we accept this, but woke has taken this to a whole other level and treats the victims as saints,” he added.
“It justifies the elimination of classical liberal values such as freedom of religion and freedom of speech by demanding sensitivity to the victims,” Dreher said.
“It claims that victims need to feel safe, so they destroy freedom by claiming safety,” said Dreher, who currently serves as the senior editor for the American Conservative.
Dreher said he will move to Budapest this October.
“I will work at the Danube Institute, I will try to help build a conservative network in Europe and even America so that there is cooperation between like-minded intellectuals and conferences on things that are important to us,” he said.
“It is a country that is really denigrated and slandered in the American and Western media, so it will be a great pleasure for me to be able to introduce Hungary to as many American conservatives as possible, as well as to place Hungary at the center of the American conservative dialogue.”
“And now that I’m going to live there, I’ll be writing from there and working to create a conservative network,” said Dreher.
Hungarian Prime Minister VIktor Orbán said a growing number of Western European Christians are flocking to Hungary to escape the ‘woke’ madness of the West.
“During our lifetime, a great many Christians will come to Hungary from Western Europe,” said Orbán.
“Yes, I think the tendency that many are coming from Western Europe will continue,” Orbán added during a Q&A session. “Some are buying up smaller settlements wholesale, and we must be prepared for that.”
Joe Biden’s speech
When Dreher was asked about Joe Biden’s recent campaign speech, he said, “it was something outrageous. If you looked at the stage background, it sure looked like some kind of Nazi rally. It was a chilling speech, and it’s chilling to see an American president say such things, in which he claims that half of the American people are a threat to democracy,”
He asserted Biden is preparing his voters and American institutions to persecute Trump supporters.
The author also notes that his book, “Living Without Fear,” highlights American manifestations of totalitarianism, adding that Biden’s speech reflected “what he described is actually happening.”
Dreher is the author of a number of other books, including “How Dante Can Save Your Life,” “The Benedict Option,” and “Live Not by Lies.”