Some of the largest Western mainstream media outlets have been caught red-handed in the growing scandal surrounding USAID, with POLITICO, The New York Times, and others accused of receiving funding from the controversial agency. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed his gratitude to US President Donald Trump for ‘uncovering and putting an end’ to USAID’s foreign interference.
‘While trade with Russia is usually condemned in principle, even Ukraine, the victim of Russian aggression, allowed the transit of Russian gas and oil to Europe for economic reasons until a few weeks ago. Politics can never escape economic and geographical realities, and why should Hungary be an exception?’
‘We’ve already seen a noticeable shift in tone that reflects the strong potential for a new golden age in US–Hungary relations under President Trump’s leadership. The renewed emphasis on mutual respect, shared strategic interests, and a commitment to sovereignty has been evident in early diplomatic engagements. However, this is just the beginning. There’s significant work ahead to translate this positive momentum into concrete outcomes,’ Bryan Leib has told our site.
László Varju was convicted of trying to bribe an independent candidate into dropping out to boost his own electoral chances in 2018. He resigned from the Hungarian parliament after his conviction. However, he is also running to fill his own vacant seat in the by-election in March.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused the opposition, in collaboration with NGOs, of attempting to oust him through a so-called colour revolution—mass demonstrations aimed at toppling the government. A closer look at the organizers of the protests reveals a familiar network with links to George Soros and, unsurprisingly, USAID. A clear regional pattern is emerging, yet Hungary remains unaffected.
‘Efficient cooperation in taking down international crime is essential to the cohesion of EU Member States. This incident illustrates how the free movement of capital, goods, labour and services can be abused for nefarious purposes—and the results expected of all national police forces in countering the criminals…’
‘30 years ago Poland, Hungary and [the] Czech Republic were perceived as dangerous. Today Warsaw, Budapest and Prague are much safer than Paris, Barcelona or Brussels. What happened?’ user Michael A Arouet asked on the social media platform X, to which he has received thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.
‘The truth of the matter is that the Chinese will not allow themselves to be entrapped by Western and non-Western foreigners alike as they did during the “Century of Humiliation”. Xi is determined more than ever to have China emerge as the greatest power on earth, thus seeing the U.S. not as a partner but as an adversary that is equally determined to do everything it can to ensure he fails.’
USAID’s slogan ‘From the American people’ has become extremely controversial since Donald Trump’s crackdown on the agency, during which his team exposed its most dubious tactics in promoting a woke, progressive agenda worldwide using millions of US taxpayer dollars. Hungary has also been significantly affected, with government-critical media outlets and NGOs receiving substantial grants.
‘Things sometimes get back to normal when they are already in a very bad place…But it seems that, both in its recognition of the need to strengthen competitiveness as an objective and in its sub-objectives, the Commission has moved from the ideological to the pragmatic, and this gives strong hope that the next generation will be able to live in a thriving Europe.’
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
