Hungarian Opinion: Weeklies Look Back on the PM’s Dallas Address

  • 14 Aug 2022 9:03 AM
  • BudaPost
Hungarian Opinion: Weeklies Look Back on the PM’s Dallas Address
Opposition-leaning analysts believe that the Prime Minister did a grave disservice to his country by taking sides with former president Donald Trump and his supporters in his address to the CPAC meeting. Pro-government commentators, on the other hand, take the event as proof that Prime Minister Orbán has become an important international actor.

In an editorial devoted to the echoes of the Prime Minister’s speech, Magyar Narancs finds it sad that critics and supporters of the Prime Minister passionately debated the insignificant question of whether the hall where the Prime Minister spoke in Dallas was crammed with people or half empty.

The debate, they write, should centre instead on what Mr Orbán actually said. They also condemn the Prime Minister for joining that shallow debate by publishing a photo of the hall full of people listening to his speech and condemning the left-wing press for alleging the opposite.

In Heti Világgazdaság, former Foreign Minister and ambassador to Washington Géza Jeszenszky thinks the tactical decision of the Prime Minister to support Donald Trump in the United States is ill-advised because a small country like Hungary should not take such a risk.

He believes in fact that Mr Trump only has a small chance of becoming President of the United States again.

The Democratic administration is obviously highly critical of the Hungarian government and Mr Jeszenszky criticises Foreign Minister Péter Szíjjártó for having flatly rejected criticism by the new American ambassador to Budapest.

Instead, he suggests, Hungarian officials should try and convince him that he was mistaken when he told Congress in Washington that the rule of law has been seriously undermined in Hungary.

In their editorial, the new editors of 168 óra admit that Prime Minister Orbán has become an important international player and is visibly engaged to find solutions to global problems.

No wonder, they continue, since he has won four consecutive landslide victories in parliamentary elections at home and is therefore inclined to find the home theatre less inspiring.

However, 168 óra thinks, problems have begun accumulating within Hungary and as the Prime Minister’s role is central in decision-making, he had better not be distracted by his interest in international affairs.

In Demokrata, András Bencsik interprets the Prime Minister‘s speech in Dallas as a catalyst for positive changes in the attitude of American conservatives,  discouraged by their defeat in the last presidential elections. He admits that Hungary has now no allies in Europe with what he calls her ‘organic democracy’.

Europe, he continues, is sinking ever deeper into an existential crisis and the only chance of survival is a conservative takeover in America.

In Mandiner, Vajk Farkas remarks that Prime Minister Orbán’s figure has aroused unprecedented attention in America. The last Hungarian statesman to be known throughout America was Lajos Kossuth, the leader of the war of liberation in 1848/49, but he was in exile, whereas Mr Orban is an acting Prime Minister.

Many right-wingers in the United States see him as a role model, while progressives describe him as the embodiment of evil. But even the negative reactions, Farkas writes, show that the Hungarian Prime Minister is an important factor in international affairs.

This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online. 
Click here to Share Your Story

Related links

Watch: Orbán at CPAC - “Globalists Can All Go To Hell”

  • How does this content make you feel?

XpatLoop Media Partner

BudaPost

Launched in May 2011 to provide a balanced picture of matters covered in Hungary’s national press. Their aim is to make it easier for English-speakers to understand where this country is now and where it’s heading according to the full spectrum of media opinions.

Explore More Reports

  • Netanyahu Revealed as a Speaker at CPAC Hungary 2026 this March

    Netanyahu Revealed as a Speaker at CPAC Hungary 2026 this March

    • 19 Feb 2026 1:14 PM

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is set to be one of the featured speakers at CPAC Hungary 2026, The Times of Israel has reported. The Hungarian news site Index.hu has also carried the story, based on information from the Israeli paper. It has since been confirmed by the office of the Prime Minister of Israel.

  • Watch: Is Hungary’s Populist Era Ending as Orbán Drops in Polls?

    Watch: Is Hungary’s Populist Era Ending as Orbán Drops in Polls?

    • 1 Jun 2025 4:14 PM

    There's been something of a right wing love-in in Hungary this week, as Budapest hosted a Conservative Political Action Conference - or CPAC - gathering of American and European populists and conservatives. President Trump heaped praise on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who's seen as a populist playbook for the White House.

  • Budapest to Host 4th CPAC Hungary on May 29-30

    Budapest to Host 4th CPAC Hungary on May 29-30

    • 31 Jan 2025 10:18 AM

    Hungary's Center for Fundamental Rights will organise the fourth Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest (CPAC Hungary) on May 29-30, the organisation's director said.