Transcript
Dave Rubin (0:09)
Out of all of the countries in all of Europe, meaning Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, etc. Hungary, to me, is the strongest. I think some of the other Eastern and Central European nations are doing just fine. Hungary really is sort of, I would say, the. It's the main bulwark against the craziness. And Western Europe is largely screwed up. And I don't sense, you know, after spending a lot of time in London and wandering around those streets like, you try to find me a native Brit who is bullish on his country. And you gotta find somebody who's like six pints in and willing to tell you that, because otherwise it's hard to find. Does it shock you that Hungary is the example for other European countries? Yeah, that's a good question. Because does it shock me that Hungary is the example? What's obvious to me is that they learned the lessons. That's the thing. These people are serious about protecting their nation this time because their ancestors paid the price for it. I'll make it work.
Balash Orban (1:26)
And then.
Dave Rubin (1:27)
So that's 5pm London time, at 6pm Budapest time.
Balash Orban (1:31)
Yeah.
Dave Rubin (1:39)
Wonderful. Already it's a little early. I'm Dave Rubin, host of the Rubin Report, and we're going to be talking about Hungary, a very small, misunderstood country that I've spent a lot of time in and really grown to love. What are some of the main things that stood out about Hungary? You know, Hungary is small. First off, it really is a small country. I don't know if people think it's big or think it's medium or think it's small, but it's a country geographically that's pretty small. In Central Europe, people think it's in Eastern Europe. Technically, it's Central Europe. And it's only got 9.7 million people, which is not a lot. We've got about 350 million in America, so only about 10 million people. But they have a heritage, they have a history, they have a culture. They've survived the Communists and they've survived the Nazis. And so much of what's happening in Hungary in 2025 is a rebuilding or a rebirth of the survival of their history. And they're trying to figure out how do we protect our borders, how do we protect our country, our values, without giving away too much to all of the European nations that seem to want to take a lot from Hungary. They want them to open their borders and take in refugees and create much of the mess that's across Europe right now. And Hungary, almost all the Hungarians that I talk to and I'm sure I talk to plenty of people from all sorts of walks of life. They just want Hungary to remain Hungarian. And that seems like a pretty noble project to me. What was it like being there? What was the weather like? What was the overall vibe and energy while being in Hungary? You know, this was my second time in Budapest. And it's a beautiful, beautiful city. And what I love about it is that there's incredible history. They've survived wars. There's, you know, places that were destroyed that are being rebuilt. But then you see the parliament building that is absolutely stunning. You can't believe that they could even make architecture like that. And you walk across the Danube river and the bridge and, you know, everything. I mean, what really struck me is that everything feels safe. All right, here we are in Budapest, also known as Budapest, as the locals say, and we're crossing the Danube river right now. There's the parliament building, which is absolutely stunningly gorgeous. It's one of these things that you can't believe that people used to make things like that. And we're crossing the. The famous river Banub right here. Look at this. This. This splits the city. It's really rather remarkable. And I have to say, more than anything else, this is my second time here in Hungary. But more than anything else, it's a beautiful day out. The air is perfect and crisp, but it's clean, it's pleasant, it's buzzing. There's just a feeling of, I don't know, safety. And, you know, there's really no homeless people and drugs and vagrants and migrants and all the other ants and things like that. So it's really, really nice. We're gonna head to CPAC tomorrow. We're doing an event with the Danube Institute. It's gonna be a little bit of a European Rubin Report reunion. More in a bit. We were walking around at 2am after, you know, going out to dinners and hanging and chatting with people. And, you know, I didn't have to hide my phone in my pocket. We were in London just a few days before that, and people were saying, oh, you don't want to walk around with your phone just, you know, out in your hand. You gotta. You gotta hide it. And there everybody was safe. People were out and about. You don't see homeless people everywhere. It felt like an experiment of a successful city. It was clean, you know, you see. You see sort of old school Hungarian things, like a little kind of hole in the wall where you can get some goulash. And then you see beautiful hotels and chain Restaurants and all of that stuff. But it really strikes me as a place that is open and liberal in the right sense of the word, meaning that there are different types of people there. But it's within the prism that is the Hungarian culture and the weather. The weather. We were there in the springtime, so the weather was absolutely great. And the Danube is. Is beautiful. And the geography and, you know, even just because it's sort of. Even as a city, it's a little bit mountainous. You know, you get multiple layers and levels and lots of stairs. So it's just a really cool place to be. Can you talk about your experience at cpac? What was the energy like there? How was it different than our London and your trip in February? Yeah, you know, CPAC Hungary was super interesting to me because there's a deep connection right now between what's going on in America and what's going on in Hungary. If what drove Trump to becoming president was the idea of America for Americans, like build a wall and we either have a country or we don't, well, Hungary is very much dealing with it right there. They are fined 1 million euros a day to keep their borders closed, meaning to just control their own borders and decide who can be in Hungary or not. The EU finds them a million dollars a day. They're willing to do it because they get other benefits by being part of the eu. But it's a really bizarre hostage situation. And that really was the backdrop of much of what was discussed at cpac, started by Prime Minister Victor Orban. This is like the beginning of RoboCop. We lost the studio. Believe it or not, in America, that helps. We are not in studio today. Normalize this idea. We are at cpac, Hungry America from Budapest. And it's very exciting morning, but we are live. All right. I'm here in Budapest at cpac. Hungary, the age of patriots is the tagline for the event. Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, just spoke. There are diplomats and public speakers from quite literally all over the world here. I'll be on the main stage in a few minutes. We're doing a live show. Live. Reuben report right over here. Here, you can turn the camera. There's a chair and people and all that good stuff. And then we'll be doing some. A live Rubin report tonight with about 20 guests, probably the most guests I've ever had on one show, except maybe for election night in America. But it's very exciting. You know, we're in a very small country here. Hungary has, I think, 9.7 million people, but it is in a very critical part of Europe where they are trying to defend their borders, defend their culture. And I think you understand that has a little something to do with what we're trying to do in America. And it doesn't have to do with skin color or religion or anything else. There are cultural values that every nation shares with their own citizens. And if you don't defend that, then you don't have a nation. So that seems to be what this conference is about. That's a bit about what I'm going to talk about when I get up there with a little bit of smacking around the mainstream media a bit and more. So stay tuned. Thank you. It's good to see you. And something like 2 or 3% have died on German. So let's count our blessings and let's be grateful for a lot.