Charlottesville — A Hungarian government politician blames the liberals

Szilárd Németh, a prominent parliamentarian affiliated with Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, knows who is to blame for the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia during a rally by neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan. In keeping with the politics of the Hungarian regime, Mr. Németh points the finger at “liberal fascists,” who bear full responsibility for the fatal events in this Virginia college town.

He wrote on Facebook:

“Liberal fascism leads to this. It is to the detriment of the quiet, peaceful and normal majority when the possessed people of the far left, the ultra-liberal and the far right cooperate or at times battle with each other.”

Mr. Németh then went on to commend President Donald Trump’s initial statements, in which he relativized the overt racial hatred of the of neo-Nazis, who no longer even bothered to hide their identity out of any sense of shame. They spewed racial hatred on the streets of this town and confidently identified with this, not worrying about professional or personal repercussions. “Once again, the president’s understanding of the situation is remarkably precise and one can only agree with his position,” gushed Mr. Németh.

Szilárd Németh

Of course, after two days, Mr. Trump was pressured into unequivocally condemning the neo-Nazis. Most in the Republican party would not have found it so difficult to condemn neo-Nazism as the American president and his Hungarian supporters seem to have. In Hungary, condemning Nazism and racism will often turn you into an anti-Hungarian traitor, but not in the U.S., where there are still a handful of elderly veterans who fought in Europe during World War II. For instance, Republican Orrin Hatch from Utah had this to say:

“We should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home…”

He then added about the mainly young men who marched in Charlottesville with tiki torches that are more commonly and more innocuously used in the backyards of American households during summer barbecues:

“Their tiki torches may be fueled by citronella but their ideas are fueled by hate, & have no place in civil society.”

It’s unfortunate to note that in contrast to the Republican party, where one will still find dissenting voices on any number of issues (including health care, immigration or an issue such as this), Fidesz is comprised only of “yes men” who nod and vote as demanded of them by the Prime Minister’s office. They are fully servile, always unthinking and at most express any misgivings in private. What should give some solace to those who worry about the state of liberal democracy in the U.S. is that dissenting voices in the party currently in power are still heard and there are still many with a sense of civic courage. And what should concern those who have long spoken out about Hungary’s descent into authoritarian rule is that there are still so many in the West who are sufficiently blind and ill informed to see in Hungary’s current government a partner in dialogue.

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *