US presidential elections: Ambassador Pressman slams PM Orbán, says he does not have a B plan and is cozy with Putin
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Here is Ambassador David Pressman’s kyenote speech as it was delivered (save for the subheadings) at the Budapest Forum.
Watching what PM Orbán does
“Good afternoon. It’s really a privilege to be here. Excellencies and distinguished guests. I‘d like to thank Mayor Karácsony, CEU’s Democracy Institute, and Political Capital for your work organizing this forum – and to congratulate you on bringing it into its fourth year. It’s a privilege to be here.
When I was preparing for my assignment in Hungary, I received lots of advice. I was told never to forget to admire Budapest’s beauty (particularly when it’s lit up at night); to watch out for the lángos (addictive and unforgiving); to try to learn the language (accompanied by a knowing eyeroll signaling futility). And another piece of advice was oft repeated:
watch what the government does, not what it says.
So before proffering this last piece of advice, my colleagues would usually tell a story that began with a “colorful” comment made by a Hungarian official and ended with agreement to go along with a policy consensus. So no matter how unrecognizable the words may be from a NATO Ally, the actions – or so the theory went – would tell a different story.
Hungarians have a history with this kind of dualism – life under communism, I needn’t tell this crowd, was riddled with it. Words that signified the opposite of their meaning. Holding two contradictory views simultaneously. Hungarians bravely brought down communism. But the legacy of double-speak left its mark.
The country of 1956 cozy with Putin
How can the country of 1956 also be so cozy with Putin’s Russia? How can a country be both a member of the European Union and also at war with “Brussels?” How can an Ally of the United States also, in the Prime Minister’s words, be its “adversary?” How can a repeated victim of Russian aggression also obstruct efforts to respond to it?
When it comes to foreign policy-making, viewing Hungary’s statements as “just words” is understandably convenient. It provides any bureaucracy in any capital the salve that bureaucracies naturally seek: to not act.
Billboards of bombs from “Brussels” raining down on Hungary are met with eyerolls as opposed to responses – just another manifestation of zany Hungarian communications strategy.
Yet limited engagement by both Europe and the United States over the past 14 years has not led to a communications crisis in Hungary, but a democratic one. To recognize this is not judgment; it is an unavoidable fact for any country that for nearly a decade has been under a continuous “state of emergency” allowing its government to enact laws by edict bypassing parliament.
Hungary says one thing and does another
U.S. policy used to accept the idea that Hungary says one thing and does another. And we now see the two – saying and doing – increasingly and concerningly merged. Hungary’s billboards, headlines, and
words are no longer – if they ever were – mere words, political rhetoric, communications ploys. They are an arm of state power.
They have an impact, a purpose, a goal. In short, they are policy, and they are impacting our Alliance, and they merit our attention.
In 2014 when Prime Minister Orbán delivered a speech outlining his vision of an illiberal state within the EU, some may have written it off as rhetorical “red meat” for a political base. We now see clearly that this was not mere rhetoric. We have reached a point where today, at a conference on democracy in Budapest – much like at a summit of democracies at the White House – more and more people are asking whether Hungary is still a democracy. That’s a question that should, for an EU member and a NATO Ally, be easy to answer.
A democracy scholar might begin to answer this question by examining two pillars that are essential to a democracy: a free media and functioning civil society.
In Hungary, we find an unironically named “Sovereignty Protection Office” that has publicly announced three investigations. It’s first: into the threat to Hungary’s sovereignty posed by… Transparency International (which has for two years in a row ranked Hungary as the most corrupt country in Europe). Its second investigation: into the threat to Hungary’s sovereignty posed by … Átlátszó, an independent media outlet, whose name means “transparency,” focused on exposing corruption – including through articles on the extraordinary wealth acquired by the Prime Minister’s 38-year-old son-in-law. And its third investigation: the threat to Hungary’s sovereignty posed by… an environmental citizen’s group raising questions about the safety implications of a battery plan.
It’s not hard to detect a pattern in what the “Sovereignty Protection Office” sees as threats to Hungary’s sovereignty. Just as it’s not hard to see echoes of the double speak we discussed earlier in the leader of the Sovereignty Protection Office’s recent assertion that non-governmental organizations can’t fight government corruption, only governments can do that. The “Sovereignty Protection Office” is trying to protect something, but it is not Hungary’s sovereignty.
Orbán’s choices impacting US-Hungary alliance
I am not a democracy scholar. There are others gathered here today who can describe how democracies are supposed to work and analyze how Hungary is doing along various benchmarks. But what I’d like to focus on are the choices made available to Hungarians today, and how this reality is impacting our alliance.
If democracy requires that citizens be comfortable openly supporting or opposing the policies proposed by their political leaders, then these deliberate actions have put Hungary on a path toward a democratic crisis. The governing party’s control of the media and its attacks on civil society have created an atmosphere of fear. In Hungary, the choice of whether to engage in political debate, especially of whether to publicly oppose the ruling party, has increasingly become existential. It’s not a question of being “afraid” of what might happen if you speak up – it’s knowing the real, lived costs of doing so.
These aggressive attacks of the government-controlled media are not “just words.” The government writes them, weaponizes them, and manages them to have a dramatic effect on people’s choices, on their lives. When the depth of that control extends not just to the words but to the very mediums through which the words flow, then those words have control over people’s lives. There’s no need for physical manifestations of state coercion when “just words” alone, thusly amplified, are capable of achieving the same result.
Because if you speak up, you will likely become a target. You can be smothered with lies, splashed on the front pages, subjected to online smear campaigns, and made famous by Megafon. These government products – mere words – render victims professionally radioactive, socially untouchable, and even commercially unemployable. They make the victims dangerous to associate with – lest you too attract attention. “Just words” are signals about who you can do business with, who you can meet , who you can interact with – and who you cannot.
Blasting simple words through a supercharged propaganda machine renders them fatal, much like harmless water, compressed and propelled, can cut steel.
Who would willingly choose such a path? To be subjected not just to humiliation but also isolation and irrelevance? It takes an exceptional commitment to conscience, to ideals, to values. But in a democratic society, speaking one’s mind freely should not be exceptional.
You can go, as is the case with Pastor Gábor Iványi, from being the pastor chosen to preside over the Prime Minister’s wedding and baptize his children to having your church deprived of its financial viability because you spoke your mind about what is happening in your own country. And the attacks he has faced – rhetorical, administrative, and legal – have also harmed the many vulnerable people he and his organizations have helped. It doesn’t take a tax expert to see that this iconic Hungarian leader would not be targeted in the way he has but for his political dissent.
The embassador can not be more clearer. I agree totally with this statement, “Orban says ine thing but does something completely different” I don’t really think Hungary will b
Long much more as a member state of the EU.
My fear, realized.
I can disagree with Politicians, the games, opportunism, cronyism, flag pertinent facts, data, etc. It is OK.
However, the rhetoric notwithstanding and as I have mentioned before, I had hoped there was a Plan B regarding the relationship with the US. “No Plan B”, should the Old Don not be elected, is a dereliction of duty by said Politicians. Plain and simple. Or perhaps the Plan B is closer ties with Mr. Putin´s Russia or Mr. Xi Jinping´s China??? Who else are you going to align with, when the going gets tough? We ain´t no Switzerland – and Switzerland has, I believe, pretty much already made its choice. As have Sweden and Finland, after seventy-five (75) years of non-alignment.
I thought I’d get in before the inevitable comments about Pressman’s sexuality, the government he represents and derision of US ‘values’ and how it’s all going to go to hell if the US electorate don’t choose a certain President this autumn. I agree with his every word, what causes me particular sadness is the extensive critique on how ‘just words’ can have devastating consequences for people in Hungary that choose to speak their mind. I never imagined I’d witness Hungary, an EU member in the centre of Europe, become a country where people hold their tongue out of fear. Sure, if you’ve got nothing to lose you can speak your mind, on television, on social media or the press, if you can find anyone willing to publish what you think, nobody is going to prison for what think think, but for a very significant part of the Hungarian population they have much to lose and much to fear, so they stay quiet, or even make a conscious decision to parrot government rhetoric in the hope that it’ll help them to climb the greasy pole. You can sense it in the air in Hungary, I’ve never known locals to be as prickly and impatient with one another as they are today, flagrant rudeness is widespread, this is a manifestation of the climate that people find themselves in; a sense that they don’t have autonomy over their destination in life while having a heavy dependency on a handful of well connected decision makers that can make or break their future. The mayor that can ensure the operating licence of your corner shop is removed if you speak out against the government, the boss of a company with government contracts that can sack you on spurious grounds for a post on Facebook while ensuring you’ll never find equivalent work in the same industry again (he or she perhaps also acting out of fear for their position if not being seen to clamp down on dissent in their ranks), or the school teacher experiencing sleepless nights in case one of their pupils mentions something to their parents at home that indicates a lack of allegiance to the party creed. The worst sort of prison is that of the mind and it’s heartbreaking to bear witness to the climate of fear enveloping the country. I, also, seek to be anonymous in this post, out of the same sense of unease.
US Biden/Harris administration is in favor of child molestation, child brainwashing by LGBT, open borders, invasion by criminals and terrorists and most of all supporting Ukrainians in a war with Russia while interfering and stopping Israel from eliminating terrorists that kill Israeli citizens and a biased media that continually lies about republicans in support of democrats. The US tolerates the persecution of Jewish students by terrorist university students and Jewish people. This is what Pressman represents.
Well no thanks. Hungarians do not want their children molested, brainwashed or mutilated. Hungarians do not want their women raped and murdered by uneducated migrants. Hungary does not want a war on her border and will not support Ukraine a country that oppresses the Hungarian minority that ended up in that corrupt country through no fault of their own. Hungarian people want to live in a country that guarantee the safety of their citizens and law and order respected. Hungarian people appreciate and support the Hungarian Jewish people, and antisemitism is not tolerated Finally, Hungary has a free press. Hungarian reporters managed to report the truth while showing their bias.
Hungary hopes that President Trump will be re-elected by the majority. Hungary and US can once more be great allies like Hungary and Israel.
Hungary does not need either stupid socialist American dictatorship or EU insane socialist dictatorship.
That was a very insightful analysis by Anonymous. A lot of people were fired from their jobs after being identified on video attending Peter Magyar’s rallies. There is a growing dictatorial cultural of fear developing in Hungary. You have no democracy when the opposition legally can advertise in media but in reality cannot because the advertising outlets be they television, radio or any publication, know that they will become a target for government directed attacks suffering economic consequences even to the point of putting them out of business. Companies also will avoid for example placing ads in newspapers featuring opposition opinion articles for fear of being targeted by the government so how can the publication put out anything presenting the opposition’s point of view? Opposition radio broadcasts have been forced off the air and can only broadcast through the internet. I listened for myself to an opposition program on internet broadcast that was subject to a disruptive hacking attack obviously done on the behest of the Fidesz dictator Orban and his government. Connected to all of this keep in mind that of all the neighbours Russia has all of the democracies are completely opposed to Russia. Russia can only create neighbouring allies by subverting democracy creating dictators and subjecting their population to Russophile propaganda. Hungary is now falling into the Russophile dictatorial camp.
Pressurization – on the “infamous” Victor Mihaly. Orban – may it GROW.
Orban / Hungary – never, never, never – with a Democratic Party President seated in the Oval Office – never, never, never was Orban remembering his SUPPORT fot the Trump time in Office – his support for “Trumpism” – his support for FAR Right of Right Politics over DEMOCRACY – never, never, never – was Orban going to be a WINNER.
Orban – his DISTILLATION of Democracy – in Hungary – his European Union – NATO and Schengen attacks of rhetorical Vileness / Aggression – the Lies – the Un-truths, the FABRICATION and PROPAGANDA – that see’s Hungary under the Orban – Fidesz Government, a country in CHAOS and Disarray.
Orban – has DESTROYED all FRIENDSHIPS with country’s GLOBALLY / GLOBALLY – that are DEMOCRACY’s.
Concur – with the United States Ambassador to Hungary – David Pressman – in the summary of his “informative” address of Candour, basically saying to the Orban – Fidesz “Mob” – you have made your BED and now you LYE in It – with Communist Russia and China – DICTATORSHIP(s).
WHAT can Hungarians SALVAGE out on this on-going TRAIN Wreck of the Orban – Fidesz Government, that have DELIVERED them as a country to the CHAOS – that as a country FACTUALLY they find them-selves ?
DO they as a race of PEOPLE – 9.6 million, of which 3.1 million are living in POVERTY – wish to be SAVED – have Futures – individually, as Families, as Parents as Grand-Parents – as a COUNTRY – do they WANT a Future ???
Daunting is the TASK ahead for the “Future” of Hungary, which goes FORCEFULLY back into Communistic / Dictatorship Governance.
WORSENING deeper darker times sooner than later in Hungary – will HAPPEN.
U.S. financial interests are not always the same as it’s NATO partners; who is getting rich from the war in Ukraine? It’s American companies and their stockholders.
Words are not only “weapons of the state”, but also the opinions of individuals and in a Democracy we have the right to post them; is a U.S. Fusion Center going to track me for my social media posts? I think so, does Hungary have such a complex citizen monitoring system in place as the United States? Maybe 50 years ago… Who is actually free or in a non-monitored state?
Why single out the “Sovereignty Protection Office” of Hungary? The U.S. has it’s own FISA act of 1978 & it’s associated projects, as well as most every other country. At least we can say negative things on the street about our elected officials, unlike in the American supported Ukraine, where their “Dear leader, Coke Z” will have you imprisoned and mistreated until death; remember Gonzalo Lira? The U.S. really protected their own citizen there.
As far as Hungary shutting down media outlets, didn’t the U.S. institute a complete media blackout on all news originating from Russia/Eastern sources, so that Americans only got one side of the story? There used to be a RT America news channel and other Facebook sites, but the U.S. blocked all of that. Is that media freedom?
Now, anyone in the U.S. affiliated with Russian news is facing litigation due to the U.S.’s FISA act and you dare to comment on Hungary’s “Sovereignty Protection Office”? Now isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black? Damn, that is on your own news sites, it’s not a secret. Didn’t the U.S. lift it’s own law on July 2nd, 2013 about broadcasting propaganda (false/fake news) to it’s own citizens?
For ambassador “A**man” to use the word “pious” in a speech is a complete joke, he’s a nasty degenerate; I don’t think we share the same values: LGB-whatever, marriage is between a man and a woman and we still respect god & religion here.
As far as Russian gas goes, why would a country implement a whole new system and pay a higher price for U.S. products; most people don’t care about where their heat comes from, as long as it is on; I guess the U.S. will try to blow up the other pipelines, the same as Nord Stream, to force us to buy their stuff.
People fired from their jobs have to be either totally incompetent or they committed crime such as theft. It is amazing how many delusional people comment on Hungarian politics. If you lived in the US, let me tell you, you would not have made half of your idiotic statements. All I can say is you are poor suckers.
Notice he didn’t say anything about the people – that voted for the guy 4 times and when US dems talk democracy the dems latest talking point. They are responsible for ousting the twice elected leader of Ukraine – you start by calling him a dictator and any connections with Russia – fire up the Nazis in the country to start revolt. The US embassy in Ukraine was staffed by left wing DEMs and many are still there and are the base of US corruption. They tried to impeach trump over some phony charge. The US has had a Stalinist justice system.
90% or western media is anti trump. Soros the great Hungarian is the biggest money in the DNC and major player in the justice system in the US. His son is even worse than him. He’s now dating Hilary’s closest aid. Who’s ex was sending dick pics to youn girls. Try reading the Twitter files— when gov dictating what they wanted removed along with other tech company’s – soon to be much more powerful then the MSM. The EU is trying silence X and Elon musk along with Brazil. They also removed all the truth about Covid on all the tech platforms- I notice Pressman is tillwearing a mask and keeping distance .
18 of trump associates have had homes raided – put in jail – lawyers files taken – volunteers followed put under servalence .- litigated to drain their money with legal fees All of his adult children have been victims . These aren’t by some little country, but the largest and most powerful agency’s that ever existed.
0 on the left. And it’s been going on 9 years.