In the wake of authoritarian Viktor Orbán’s political defeat over the weekend, Hungary’s newly elected prime minister, Péter Magyar, is looking to sever his government’s financial ties to the influential pro-Trump activist group the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Magyar, a former member of Orbán’s party, Fidesz, in Hungary, campaigned on an anti-corruption platform. When U.S. Vice President JD Vance made a last-second visit to Hungary to deliver his and Trump’s ultimately futile endorsements of the prime minister, I noted in a blog that an Orbán loss could disrupt the work of activist groups like CPAC operating in Hungary, which they portray as a model of the illiberal rule they’d like to bring to the U.S. (You can read some of my coverage on CPAC Hungary here and here.)
At a press conference on Monday, Magyar said Orbán’s government had given government funds to CPAC and the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, a Hungarian residential college that Orbán critics have described as “an institution designed to breed right-wing intellectuals,” according to The New York Times. In condemning the alleged payments, Magyar called for investigations and said that while CPAC is welcome in Hungary, the government would no longer pay the group.
Magyar told CNN that neither MCC nor CPAC would receive state funds under his government. ‘I believe the state should never have financed them in the first place. It was a crime. Mixing party financing with government spending from the state budget is, in my view, a criminal offense,’ Magyar said. He added that institutes like MCC ‘should be investigated’ by anti-corruption institutions he plans to set up. ‘CPAC can come to Budapest. They’re very welcome. But not from Hungarian taxpayers’ money. From Fidesz’s money, or Orbán’s buddies’ money — before we take it back,’ he said.
Scandal-plagued CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp posted in response to Magyar’s comments but didn’t address the payment claims, saying only that he was “gratified” that Magyar “has invited us back to have CPAC.”
I’m very gratified that the PM elect of Hungary has invited us back to have @CPAC. We will take him up on that and work with people of Hungary to defend their sovereignty
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) April 14, 2026
Neither Magyar nor the Hungarian government provided further details about the reported payments to CPAC. Following the comments, U.S. critics of the conservative group — including MS NOW contributor Joyce Vance, below — have an eye out for what information may emerge from the Hungarians’ anti-corruption investigation:
Full accounting necessary: Who was paid, how much, when. https://t.co/OqkCG3R18G
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) April 13, 2026
In the other direction, there’s been reporting on efforts by Trump officials, like State Department undersecretary Sarah Rogers, to name one, to fund far-right groups in Hungary and elsewhere. Rogers met last November with members of an Orbán-backed Hungarian propaganda group that was connected to CPAC Hungary.
It’s easy to see how Orbán’s loss could prove injurious to the MAGA movement in a variety of ways. With the downfall of Trump’s favorite authoritarian, the U.S. conservative movement appears to be losing its free rein (and apparently some financing) to use Hungary as an ideological testing ground.
