Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán did not mince his words on Tuesday in Budapest, at a joint press conference with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern. On the same day that Hillary Clinton formally became the presidential nominee of the U.S. Democratic Party, the Hungarian Prime Minister declared the following:
“Republican foreign policy is good for Europe and represents life for Hungary. In contrast, the Democratic Party’s foreign policy is bad for Europe and deadly for Hungary, because it supports migration and the export of democracy.”
When Chancellor Kern was expected to comment on Mr. Orbán’s Manichean allegory and on the U.S. presidential elections, the Austrian politician tried to make light of the awkward moment and noted that as a man, Mr. Trump should stop dyeing his hair, and then pointed to his own greying head. This light moment allowed Prime Minister Orbán to cheerily express his agreement about how men should just be comfortable going grey. Just two months ago, such banter was unimaginable between the two men, as the Social Democratic Austrian Chancellor criticized the Orbán government for its authoritarian streak, as well as the country’s anti-migrant policy. Mr. Orbán suggested that he will let bygones be bygones, and that the relationship between Austria and Hungary must be “as pragmatic and as practical as possible.” The two countries will cooperate in expanding railway links and will open up new border crossings. Hungary’s state-owned Eximbank will invest 500 billion forints, in the form of loans, in the joint ventures between the two countries. Mr. Kern seemed very satisfied and had dramatically changed his tune in regards to Mr. Orbán.
The leaders of the European Union have had many such light moments in Mr. Orbán’s company–some of our readers will recall how Jean-Claude Juncker gave Mr. Orbán a friendly slap in the face and jokingly referred to him as a “dictator.”
Those who live in Hungary and fear for their jobs and livelihood, when faced with a regime that will exact revenge on nearly anyone who has an independent thought or who does not pledge unwavering loyalty to the deeply Machiavellian ruling Fidesz party, probably find it distasteful, when Europe’s leaders are so chummy with the prime minister and turn a blind eye to all abuses.
As the Népszabadság daily reminds us today, this is not the first time that Mr. Orbán injects himself into an American election campaign. In 2008, Mr. Orbán predicted: “the McCain/Palin pair’s chances of electoral success are growing…It looks like the Democrats do not have much to say about the issues that really matter…Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin is not enveloped in any scandals. She is an outstanding candidate. It has been a long time since I have seen such a talented politician.”
It is unfathomable that Mr. Orbán does not realize that the Republican party, up until the rise of Donald Trump, was the main proponent behind an interventionist, proactive foreign policy, which was justified through the rhetoric of exporting democracy to oppressed nations and peoples. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush all subscribed to this, and there were elements of this approach under the Democratic presidency of Bill Clinton too. Mr. Reagan is honoured by a statue in Budapest’s Liberty Square precisely because of his role during the Cold War and the notion that he helped to liberate the Eastern Bloc from Soviet influence.
What binds Mr. Orbán to Mr. Trump is the Republican presidential candidate’s highly unusual and unorthodox admiration for Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Even today, Mr. Trump caused Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan to cringe, when he encouraged Russia to once again hack into his opponent’s emails (this time not the DNC’s, but Hillary Clinton’s system instead).
“Russia, if you’re listening I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press”–exclaimed Mr. Trump on Wednesday, during a press conference in Florida. Mr. Ryan responded by referring to Mr. Putin as a “thug” who should not meddle in the American election.
On one side of the Atlantic, the presidential candidate of a major political party is openly calling on a foreign power to conduct espionage on domestic soil, in order to derail the campaign of a political opponent. On the other side of the Atlantic, the pro-Putin sitting prime minister of a NATO member state labels the ruling political party in the United States as being “deadly” for Hungary.
This is a summer that is stranger than fiction.