Matt Schlapp tells Steve Bannon CPAC will be “a little bit Hungarian” in its treatment of the press

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has restricted press freedom in building what he calls an “illiberal democracy”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the February 2, 2023 edition of Real America's Voice's War Room

MATT SCHLAPP (GUEST): CPAC is going to get more and more activists engaged in the fight on these things. And it's not just what happens on the mainstage, it's every news outlet is there, although Steve, I do want to break some news. We've decided to go a little bit Hungarian on the left-wing, I don't want to call it press or media because they're not, the left-wing activists that like to think they're media, I don't know why we're letting them come into our house every year so they can beat the hell out of us and lie to us. So I'm not so sure we're going to do so much of that anymore.

If you're a real journalist, OK, fine. But if you're a faux journalist who's just trying to go after and attack people, I don't think you're constructive to the conversation.

According to The Atlantic, Hungarian president Viktor Orbán “has overseen the steady dismantling of the country’s democratic institutions, eroding its press freedoms, undermining its education system, and limiting the power of its judiciary. As an open advocate of 'illiberal democracy'—his country is the first and only EU member state to be considered just 'partly free' by the think tank Freedom House.”

In 2022, CPAC hosted a Hungarian edition of its conference in Budapest.

Following reports that a former Herschel Walker staffer claimed that Schlapp “fondled” his crotch, Schlapp and his wife Mercedes have disappeared from their regular appearances on Fox News, instead opting for considerably smaller platforms like War Room and Newsmax.