Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó refuted former U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent qualification of Hungary as having a “strongman leadership”. “One should not forget that in Hungary the position of prime minister is not won by lottery, but after having had won an election, meaning that people voted for him,” Szijjártó told commercial television channel RTL Klub, a subsidiary of the German RTL Group.
In an interview with Daily Show host Trevor Noah, Obama said recently, “That conflict, that battle between a more democratic inclusive vision, and one that’s top-down, dominant-subordinate, that’s a contest that’s taking place here in the United States, and around the world,” adding that “it’s not going to be finished just because the election is over and Donald Trump was defeated because you see examples of this in the Philippines and Hungary, in a variety of countries, in Africa and Asia, and so that contest is going to continue.”
Obama’s words echo Biden’s, who said during his presidential campaign against Trump that Poland and Hungary are ” totalitarian regimes “. The United States, which is a two-party system, is increasingly hurtling towards a one-party system dominated by Democrats due to rapid demographic change , a trend that has already been in place for some time in states like California . Democrats are now threatening to pack the courts, abolish the electoral college, and add entire states to the union , which will help them secure permanent majorities in the senate and ensure Republicans will have virtually no option to win a national election again. Such moves would dramatically shift the country towards autocratic rule — not through one man or woman — but through one party backed by a tech and financial oligarchy .
Regarding Obama’s remarks, Hungary’s foreign minister points out that Hungarian people have spoken in a competitive and fair election. “This kind of qualification is also qualifying Hungarian leaders and the choice of the Hungarian people,” Szijjártó said. “It would be good, and we could talk about better conditions and relations in global politics if we would allow each country to decide its future from a position of respect.” During most of eight years of the Obama-administration (2009-2017) Hungary had a conservative government after now Prime Minister Viktor Orbán won the elections with a two-thirds majority in 2010. Due to the U.S. approach, that period brought a substantial cooling of bilateral relations, a trend only reversed when Donald Trump came to power. Title image: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó speaking to commercial televiosn RTL Klub.
