Mark Ivanyo, a lawyer and conservative activist based in Houston, Texas, is one of the founding members of the U.S. political advocacy group Republicans for National Renewal. As the group’s executive director, he oversees its day-to-day operations, which are both national and international in scope. Having helped organize several conferences in Europe, as well as having traveled extensively across the continent, Ivanyo has become something of a conduit for right-wing populist forces in the United States and Europe.
For our audience who may not be familiar with you and Republicans for National Renewal, can you give us a brief rundown of your background, the organization, and its mission?
I’m an attorney licensed to practice law in the great state of Texas, and prior to graduating from law school, I was assisting some Republicans running for office. I was the president of the Federalist Society at my law school’s chapter and the vice president of the Republican Law Students. So, I was beginning to become politically active in law school. Prior to that, I was politically apathetic, but Barack Hussein Obama, after I saw what he was doing to the country, motivated me to become more involved in politics.
Republicans for National Renewal (RNR) is a political non-profit organization dedicated to moving the Republican Party away from the ‘America Last’ establishment position and towards the America First one. We represent the pro-Trump, populist-nationalist side of the party, and what we intend to do is take over the party from the grassroots level up—at the local, state, and federal levels. Therefore, when President Trump is back in office, he can better effectuate his agenda.
Before, he not only had to deal with the corrupt radical Left—who’s always against him—but he was also having to fight the RINO [Republican in Name Only] establishment. We saw these fake Republicans who would sing his praises in their speeches so they could get elected or gain favor—and then they would take the opposite position when it came to voting. These establishment Republicans opposed his agenda the majority of the time.
Our mission is to renew the Republican Party and reshape it into a party that represents the working class and average, everyday American. That’s our domestic mission.
We also have an international mission, which may be more pertinent to your audience: We think that, given the ideological overlap between America First Republicans and right-wing conservative parties in Europe, the two ought to work together. The same issues that are plaguing the United States and Europe. We see the same exact coordinated attacks. The only way we can defend against these attacks—not only defend,but go on the offensive and defeat the globalist Left—is if we work closely together and coordinate our efforts. The Left has been doing this for a long time.
Our international mission is to help facilitate that coordination and establish links so the anti-globalist right across the Western world, and even beyond, can be a more offensive force. The Left, which has become increasingly bold and brazen as time goes by, appears to be beginning to lose its grip on power as we’ve seen with recent elections, and I think we need to capitalize on that.
Let’s talk about the Cross Continental Conservative Congress in Serbia. First, how does a U.S. Republican come to know leaders of the Serbian People’s Party (SNP)?
We organized our first Transatlantic Patriot Summit in 2021, where we got youth leaders of different conservative parties in Europe together with young Republicans and College Republicans. Through our Lega friends in Italy, we got in touch with Ognjen Pantović, a former member of parliament from the Serbian People’s Party, and invited him to take part in the summit. After that, we invited Mr. Jovan Palalić, an MP for the Serbian People’s Party, to join us at CPAC Hungary in 2022. The next year, Mr. Palalić spoke at our usual youth summit, and we developed a nice working relationship. Mr. Palalić later expressed a strong desire to host a conservative conference similar to CPAC Hungary , so we helped invite the American guests along with some European ones. It turned out to be a wildly successful event, far surpassing my expectations.
Beyond its success, what were your impressions of the conference?
The Serbian people were very hospitable, and they ran a good program, keeping in mind how people might be jet-lagged. So they made a schedule that allowed for a good amount of breaks, but also for substantive conversations and discussions. The way the event was organized was quite conducive to networking opportunities as well. You could feel both a strong sense of camaraderie and a desire to cooperate. I believe everyone came away from it with a greater bond with their fellow patriots from different countries and a greater motivation to continue working together—or begin working together.
What topics were addressed during the panel discussions?
We tried to make the panel discussions on the topics that most of us, if not all, could agree on. When forming political coalitions, I think it’s best to begin on fundamentals that everyone can agree on. Once you do that, you can begin to cooperate on those issues, and then from there, you can branch out.
Of course, we discussed mass migration, both legal and illegal, its effect on the host nation and cultures, and the agenda that’s behind this flood of people from alien cultures into the Western world. We also discussed how to get more people—the average person—involved in activism, how we can expand our reach, and how we can gain more influence within party and state apparatuses.
The role religion plays in right-wing political movements, and politics in general, across Europe and elsewhere was also discussed. The decline of Christianity and the rise of Islam on the European continent witnessed over the past couple of decades was discussed as well. As I’m sure your audience is well aware, the effects of Islamization, especially in Western Europe—places like France, Portugal, Italy, and particularly in Sweden—have been utterly disastrous. And so we talked about strengthening Christianity and the value it brings to our lives and communities.
There were representatives from France, Germany, Serbia, the US, Belgium, India, Italy, Austria, Spain, Slovakia, and Slovenia present. During the panel discussions, were there any points of disagreement that stuck out?
As I said, we formulated the panels such that it’s about topics that we were fairly confident that there would be very little disagreement, if any. And so, as I recall, there weren’t any specific points of contention that stuck out among the panelists
So I assume topics like international relations weren’t really discussed?
No, we tried to keep it a bit more general.
U.S.-Serbian relations are quite ‘complicated,’ let’s say. Since the NATO bombings in 1999 that resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths and thousands of injuries, Serbs haven’t always had the warmest feelings toward the United States. During the conference, did you speak to any Serbs about this, and if so can you tell us about how those conversations went?
That specific event did not come up, but they obviously were not very big fans of NATO, to say the least. And they also expressed that, among the Serbian population, there’s a general distrust or dislike of the United States and its current regime. They think that the American culture is very leftist, liberal, degenerate, and full of LGBT propaganda and gender ideology. And they’re correct about that in a sense. But they also told me that people there love Trump. So I think it’s more of a dislike for the ruling class, the leftists, the Hollywood types, and these people who have disdain for Christian morals and Christianity in general, and those who are pushing mass migration, pushing the gender ideology on children—these kinds of things that all conservatives dislike as well.
So, although it seems like anti-Americanism on the surface, it’s really not. Yes, they do see America as the foremost purveyor of woke ideology, and gender ideology, but I think their disdain lies largely with the liberal America. I do think that if President Trump comes back to power, Serbians’ image of America may be softened, or they may even like America, or at least parts of America, like those who voted Trump into office.
Historically, conservative and right-wingers haven’t been as skilled as their leftist counterparts at international networking. That appears, at least on the surface, to be changing. From what you’ve seen, what is the primary binding agent bringing all of these people together in opposition to cultural and political globalism? Do you think it is Christianity, conservative values, or simply a shared opposition to global homogenization?
That is a very good question. I think it’s tough to say any one specific thing because if you ask 20 of these representatives, they’d likely all give a slightly different answer. But from my American perspective, I would say it’s probably a strategic issue. This is especially true for Europe, where you have many countries close together. They all see the same negative developments taking place, for example, with mass migration. I think, after having noticed these things taking place for a few decades now, they’re starting to realize, ‘well, if my friends over there in the other country next door are suffering from that and so are we, we probably should cooperate and see how we can oppose these parties that are pushing for all this destruction and disaster.’
I think for them it’s strategic in that sense, and for us as well in the United States. I think many Americans would be very surprised, even today, to learn that all the things we’re dealing with here [in the U.S.] are being carried out the same exact way by the leftists in Europe. And that also shows people, ‘hey, we need to talk to others who are suffering from the same things and see if we can find a solution.’ But as far as conservative values go, we all have them, so this of course plays a role as well.
You were traveling around Europe, meeting with right-wing politicians, before and after the conference in Serbia. Can you tell us about your activities in Italy, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, and elsewhere?
After the Serbian conference, I was invited by my Austrian friend, MEP Harald Vilimsky, to Brussels. There, we had a panel discussion with some other MEPs, which was quite interesting. I was asked to speak a little bit about the situation in Texas, particularly with our southern border being wide open, how it’s affected us, and what I think can be done about it. Then the other MEPs, including Vilimsky, discussed the issues facing their respective countries as well. I was introduced to some other folks over there at the European Parliament, so it was good for networking and connections.
After that, I went to Bulgaria to meet up with members of the Revival Party. I was left with the impression they’re very conservative and very much in line with the more America First patriots.Watching their parliamentary session, I realized that we have a lot in common here. They’re doing great work. I was impressed by their positions on a whole host of issues. I found it interesting that they don’t call themselves nationalists or populists, as both have negative connotations in Bulgaria, apparently.
I think Revival, which won 15% of the vote in the last election cycle, has a bright future ahead of them. It was a privilege to meet and speak with them and see how I can help them in the future. Additionally, shortly after our meeting, RNR and the party signed a statement of cooperation.
After that, I went to Hungary to take part in the congress of Fidelitas, which is Fidesz’s youth wing. It was quite productive. I was able to meet some more of the Hungarian officials. I also spoke at the congress and very much look forward to going back there for CPAC Hungary.
What kind of backlash have you received at home in the U.S., if any at all, for rubbing shoulders with political parties deemed by the liberal international press to be ‘far-right’ and ‘pro-Russian’?
I think there have been some fringe groups, radical leftists, and a few not-so-known RINO Republicans who have spoken about RNR, saying stuff like ‘oh they’re against globalism but they’re here working on a global scale and they’re working with these other countries.’ They’ve claimed we’re working with fascists in Germany and all this silly stuff that I was hearing well before I even had these contacts.
This isn’t in regard to any specific parties or people but it seems like, at least as recently, anyone to the right of George Bush is smeared as some kind of far-right dictator-supporting fascist, undercover Nazi, agent of Putin. And so, it really just rolls off of my back like water off a duck. At this point, as I said, it’s mostly just fringe people, radical leftists, and some very unknown RINOs, so I don’t really pay any mind, and it’s not really that important to me. And if anyone were to ask me about it, say in an interview, where they’re trying to say I shouldn’t be talking to these people—the whole guilt-by-association, which the Left loves to try to pull—I would tell them directly: meet these people and see what they’re doing. They’re not any different than, say, a pro-Trump, conservative American. So, to smear these other parties and these other folks as anything other than conservative I think is extremely dishonest and really shouldn’t be given any kind of merit whatsoever.
