We are both committed to peace, the Prime Minister said about his talks with the former US President. Continue reading
As all results are not yet in, there has been little reaction from Hungary’s government to the U.S. midterm elections. The prime minister’s political director has already congratulated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Gergely Gulyás, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office, was asked about the U.S. midterm elections at his weekly press conference. He said they were still waiting for the results, but to avoid a Democratic majority, Republican senatorial candidates would have to win in the states that were still open. “It is more likely that Republicans will not win a majority in the Senate, but will win a majority in the House of Representatives,” he speculated, adding that “Hungary respects the decision of the American voters”.
The re-elected Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is highly respected on the Hungarian conservative side. The Prime Minister’s political director, Balázs Orbán congratulated DeSantis and newly elected Ohio senator JD Vance on Twitter.
Congratulations @RonDeSantisFL on your re-election and historic landslide victory!
Hungary wishes you and Florida all the best! #KeepFloridaFree pic.twitter.com/lL4k0yUQhF
— Balázs Orbán (@BalazsOrban_HU) November 9, 2022
According to István Kovács, strategic director of the Center for Fundamental Rights (Alapjogokért Központ) think tank, DeSantis “declared a serious fight against the woke ideology”. “It is safe to say that he not only won the election, but won this fight spectacularly,” Kovács wrote on Facebook, referring to the fact that the Republican candidate beat his opponent with the widest margin since 2002. “In Florida, common sense has triumphed,” he added.
The mid-term elections have not been a central theme in the communications of Hungarian politicians in recent weeks, but several have spoken out on the issue.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posted a congratulatory message from Donald Trump on 27 October. „Always great to hear from our good friend Donald Trump. Let’s make US-Hungarian relations great again,” he tweeted. Earlier, he called the conviction of Steven Bannon, Trump’s former advisor a „political witch-hunt against a true American patriot”.
Viktor Orbán said at a panel discussion in Berlin last month in connection with the war in Ukraine that „the hope for peace is called Donald Trump”.
The former President met Hungary’s Prime Minister in August when Viktor Orbán held a speech at CPAC Texas in Dallas.
Speaking in Jordan last week, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó welcomed the possibility of Republican success in the midterms. A stable government led by Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and a Republican majority in the U.S. Congress would be the “most promising and hopeful development” for peace and security in the Middle East, he said.
The Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) held an event on Tuesday. Steve Hayward, a professor at UC Berkeley said that the divide between the two political camps in the United States is widening. MCC visiting lecturer Gladden Pappin said that the public safety situation in many U.S. cities is currently very bad. “This is compounded by the rate of inflation and a lot of disinformation,” he added. Simon Hankinson, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said that many Americans are in need of help, with the damaging effects of inflation being felt by all, while there are multiple-convicted criminals walking free on the streets.
The Hungarian opposition has been mostly silent about the midterms. András Fekete-Győr, the former president of the liberal Momentum party wrote on Monday that „the fall of the trumpists is in Hungary’s national interest”.
„Many people have been disappointed with the Biden administration over the past two years, but there are plenty who have not forgotten the discrimination and irrational aggression under the previous Trump administration. I am excited to see how the people decide,” Momentum MEP Katalin Cseh wrote on Facebook, on her way to Washington as part of the ALDE party family’s delegation.
Featured photo via Pixabay