But then backs off.
The conservative populists will not, in themselves, save Europe, even if they successfully impose a solution to the current migrant crisis. Their opposition to non-European immigration is as a rule instinctive and electoral, not ideological and principled. They oppose immigration, to the extent they do, because it pays and will cease to do so when it no longer pays. Indeed, Orbán’s poll numbers have shot up thanks to his successful crisis management and it is hard to say the extent to which his position is really ideologically principled or merely politically opportunistic. The conservative populists’ objective role — visible especially in France, Germany, and Belgium — has often been to steal votes from the nationalist far-right, without actually addressing the underlying problem of immigration.
While it is possible that Orban may personally prefer Hungary to stay Hungarian, I believe he is an opportunist whose current position is solely due to pressure on his political right from Jobbik. His constant waffling in the face of EU pressure is not consistent with a principled position. Then we have his attack on the NPI conference. No one was asking him to endorse the conference, much less promote or even attend it, but just to leave it alone. But, no, with all the fervor of a “point-and-sputter” SJW, he made sure to crush the conference and harass Spencer. Is there still any doubt about his “principles?”
A correct attitude toward Orban would be brief and infrequent mild and skeptical praise when he says or does (preferably, does) something useful, but to always “hold his feet to the fire” and never trust him to do the right thing on his own. The onanistic frenzy of the mainstreamers about Chicken Wire Vik is as unseemly and embarrassing as the traditionalists with their hands in their pants over bare-chested Vlad, or “the Donald’s” army of dreamy-eyed PUA girls lying in the grass wetting themselves over “the Trumpening.”
As to why the mainstreaming excitement over Orban:
Barring a bloody revolution, the only way for us to achieve the policies necessary to halt immigration and save Europe from destruction is by restoring that junction between our ruling elites and the ostracized nationalist dissidence. Thus our peoples’ interests and right to life would again be secured, and our ruling elites might again be legitimate leaders of the people they govern.
EGI Notes is of course a peace-loving and pacifist blog that preaches a strict doctrine of non-violence. I – no doubt, no doubt! – absolutely abhor any thought of anything other than bookish intellectualism as a solution to our problems. However, I unfortunately realize – with deep regret, shaking my head sadly – that to solve the race problem will very possibly require “bloody revolution” and that “our” ruling elites in such a scenario would be made to learn to “play the piano” real fast. The mainstreamers, on the other hand, horrified by the thought of soiling their dainty hands with any of that, refuse to consider the possibility. Let’s leave the traitors and opportunists in power; after all, anything else would be “radical” and “bloody.” Thus, the mainstreamers eagerly grasp onto Orban or any other established conservative figure that offers hope that a partial compromise solution can be found that would not require any dreaded bloodshed.