The U.S. ambassador to Budapest, David Pressman, has launched yet another attack against Viktor Orbán, this time claiming the Hungarian prime minister has identified the United States as an enemy of Hungary.
As reported by the Hungarian Magyar Nemzet newspaper, Pressman said that Viktor Orbán’s identification of the United States as Hungary’s adversary at the beginning of March was a cause for concern.
Pressman’s latest remarks were divulged to a journalist at the left-wing Népszava newspaper, who was given permission by the U.S. embassy in Budapest to accompany the diplomat on a visit to the Hungarian city of Szeged on Tuesday.
The U.S. ambassador reportedly “spoke in an unusually open and direct tone about the recently strained interstate relations” between Hungary and the United States. The conversation was considered off the record; however, the newspaper published the remarks with the permission of the U.S. embassy.
Pressman claimed that “such anti-American rhetoric from an allied country is unprecedented,” and further criticized the Orbán administration for not distancing itself from Russia despite the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. He claimed there was bipartisan agreement on concerns about this in the U.S., and a full consensus in national security circles, with some members of the opposition Republican Party taking an even tougher line on the Hungarian leadership.
The U.S. diplomat claimed that these factors make it futile for Hungary’s governing Fidesz party to hope that the outcome of next year’s U.S. presidential election will bring a turnaround in bilateral relations.
As Remix News recently reported, Pressman has publicly criticized Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó for a tweet by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán showing solidarity with former U.S. President Donald Trump.
