Authoritarian far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán knows that he can expect tougher treatment from the Biden administration after his bold bet on a win for President Donald Trump backfired. Orbán declared his admiration for Trump many times and viciously (and unwisely) attacked “corrupt” Joe Biden.
Recently pardoned White House advisor Steve Bannon even called Orbán “Trump before Trump.” In fact, Orbán was the only EU leader to endorse Trump during the 2016 election and he even adapted Trump’s slogan, “We say the same, Hungary first, and then everyone else.”
In the meantime Hungary’s freedom of the press and democracy has been backsliding. Russian and Chinese influence is growing and only Orbán’s voice can be heard. Hungary is now an “illiberal democracy.”
Orbán’s propaganda at home also used antisemitic speech to get the far-right vote and has institutionalized Holocaust falsification. Hungarian fascists became national heroes and the pro-Hitler dictator of the last century, Miklós Horthy, is now a distinguished statesman. Hungary further rewrote WWII history. The Allies are now “occupiers” and Roosevelt’s name was taken off from a Budapest square. Orbán is suspicious of Americans, especially Jews who are often called in pro-government media “Soros agents” or “libsi” a slang for Jews with liberal views.
Now Orbán has a problem. The new Secretary of State, Tony Blinken is a child of Holocaust survivors and fully aware of the Hungarian situation since his father Donald Blinken was the US Ambassador to Budapest 25 years ago.
In order to woo the Blinken clan Orbán has dispatched Katalin Bogyay, a professional charmer years ago to get close to the family. Bogyay got to know them while at UNESCO in Paris and praised profusely Tony Blinken’s stepfather, Polish Holocaust survivor, Samuel Pisar.
Now the target is Tony’s 82-year old mother, Sam Pisar’s widow, Judith Pisar. A couple of days ago Bogyay, now Hungary’s UN Ambassador posthumously awarded “A Cry for Freedom” statue to the late Samuel Pisar, “a great supporter of Hungary’s Holocaust Memorial Year.” Another photo op with the Secretary of State’s mother, the smiling Pisar.
Bogyay also run into Pisar and her daughter Leah, Tony Blinken’s half-sister, on the street and tweeted an official photo of the meeting! She wanted to show the world that cutesy diplomacy works. The Orbán government can successfully manage Tony Blinken in their special Hungarian way.
György Lázár