English transcript

Successfully dealing with the left-wing domination

of universities is Viktor Orban's approach in Hungary.

I think his way has to be the model for us,

not to eliminate universities, but to give

the choice between survival or taking a much less biased

approach to teaching.

He seized control of state universities

and put them in foundations that were then run by his allies.

Is that what you're advocating be done in the United States?

Well, Margaret, what you're seeing in the United States

actually is that universities are controlled

by left-wing foundations.

They're not controlled by the American taxpayer,

and yet the American taxpayer is sending

hundreds of billions of dollars to these universities

every single year.

I don't want taxpayers controlling education,

necessarily.

Is that what you're advocating for, federal government?

Margaret, what I'm advocating for is for taxpayers

to have a say in how their money is spent.

Universities are part of a social contract in this country.

They educate our children, they produce

important intellectual property.

They get a lot of money because of it.

But if they're not educating our children well

and they're layering the next generation down

in mountains of student debt, then they're not

meeting their end of the bargain.

I think it's totally reasonable to say

there needs to be a political solution to that problem.

Well, America's universities still

attract talent from around the world,

as you've went to one of America's very top schools.

Look, there's still good things about American universities,

but it's going in the wrong direction, Margaret.

But Victor Orban in particular, as you know,

I mean, he rewrote the Constitution,

he neutered the courts, he tried to control the media.

These are not necessarily conservative principles.

So why would you want to mimic him?

Well, look, I'm not endorsing every single thing

that Victor Orban has ever done.

I don't know everything he's ever done.

What I do think is on the university principle,

the idea that taxpayers should have some influence

in how their money is spent at these universities,

it's a totally reasonable thing.

And I do think that he's made some smart decisions there

that we could learn from in the United States.

Well, he was just one of them.