Conservatives are not enamored of Hungary because it represents a viable model of conservative political economy. Orbán’s much-vaunted, expensive efforts to increase the birthrate have yielded ephemeral, meager results; even Dougherty acknowledges the program’s aims to be “totally unachieved.”

The truth is that what conservatives admire about Hungary isn’t the policies, it’s the politics. Here is an illiberal leader who has used legal means to punish his enemies, rig the system in his favor and stay in power for more than a decade. That’s it, and those who believe something deeper is at work are fooling themselves. Conservative state power reinforcing itself is the appeal for folks like Carlson, who understand Hungary on the same superficial level as some of his critics.