Orbán's overexcited Trump cheerleader committed political suicide
The political scene in Hungary is buzzzzzzing.
Our beloved ruling party, FIDESZ, led by Viktor Orbán, is making moves this autumn. As the world waits for Mariah Carey to emerge from her summer hideout somewhere above the Polar Circle, the teashops are changing their offerings from green tea and peppermint to rooibos and vanilla flavors…Orbán's party has chosen to attempt to discredit opposition leader Péter Magyar by releasing another interview with a disgruntled ex.
Quite predictably, this interview did not harm Magyar at all, and Orbán’s chief of propaganda, Antal Rogán, had to come up with something else. So far, this is business as usual.
Today, on the 26th, Balázs Orbán (not related to Viktor Orbán), the party's “political director,” gave an interview to Mandiner magazine, a government media lapdog. Balázs Orbán is critical in maintaining good relations between Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump. Under his direction, Hungarian government media attempts to hum along the tone of the Trump campaign.
So it didn’t come as a surprise that, just like Trump, they want to end the war in Ukraine in a quick and slick manner. However, Balázs Orbán went on to say this:
“because of ‘56, we wouldn’t have done what President Zelensky did 2,5 years ago because that’s irresponsible. He led his country in a defensive war, and many people died. They lost this much territory, and I say again, this is their right, their sovereign decision; they could do this, but if they’d asked us, we wouldn’t have recommended that because ‘56 turned out as it did. We learned that one must be cautious with precious Hungarian lives. Those cannot be thrown away.”
Okay, some background:
There are three state holidays in Hungary. August 20th commemorates the founding of the Kingdom of Hungary by King St. Stephen. March 15th and October 23rd are both anniversaries of revolutions. The Russian army quelled both of those revolutions in 1848 and 1956.
1956 is the symbol of national pride—not in the way of flying the tricolor like we do on March 15th. Hell no. Oktober 23rd in 1956 was a grim Autumn day when Hungarians had enough of Communist rule and rebelled against it. Everyone knew our chances. The Red Army was upon us in a week with its best units. In Budapest, even schoolboys and young workers found PPSh submachine guns and old rifles and fought against the tanks. The boys of Budapest are symbolic. Another government media lapdog, “Pesti srácok,” is named after them.
The significance, the essence, the message of the 1956 revolution is that even if one knows that the world’s largest army will come, one has to raise the banner of freedom. The Hungarians in 1956 did so. They cut the red star and the Communist coat of arms from the flag and raised it with a hole in the middle.
The flag with the hole was quickly thrown into the mud by the Soviets, and it was a criminal offense to raise it for the next 35 years. Despite the leaders of the revolution being hanged and others being imprisoned, the fire of resistance never really died.
Our history books discussed the “regrettable events of October” in those years. In 1989, they were cautiously relabeled an “uprising” and in 1990, a “revolution.” Since then, every single Hungarian politician has tried to align himself with the brave boys of Budapest, who used Molotov cocktails and old guns against the towering Soviet tanks.
So.
Imagine the shitstorm caused by Balázs Orbán.
What he said is sacrilegious. It’s borderline treasonous. He tried to explain himself in a video, accusing "warmongers" of "twisting his words". But the truth is that no one twisted his words because no one had to.
With the exception of some petty Russian agents (the “Our Country” Party), everyone tries to distance themselves from Balázs Orbán because he made himself untouchable.
Utter stupidity or a giant red herring?
Every analyst in Hungary is now pondering whether Balázs Orbán is that stupid or whether we are looking at a whale-sized red herring and our economy is in grave trouble.
My bet is the first one. Our previous prime minister, Mr. Gyurcsány, lost his seat after an ill-fated speech in which he said things a politician should never say. Orbán’s regime learned the lesson, and they don’t play that game. This was a slip, but a very ugly one.
This is an unfolding scandal, so I’ll keep my readers posted. Also, I have a nice pictorial post about the political significance of floods, so stay tuned and become a paid subscriber of the Muse!
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