American public broadcaster NPR sat down with former US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman for a discussion on his favourite topic: the alleged deterioration of Hungarian democracy. The article, already biased from the outset, set the tone with a bold statement: ‘Hungary — under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — isn’t the democracy it used to be.’ It goes on to claim that Orbán has weakened judicial independence, restricted press freedoms, and created an environment conducive to corruption.
Pressman then launched into the same tirade he has repeated countless times—most recently in the pages of The New York Times following his long-awaited departure from Budapest in January. He accuses Orbán of deliberately adopting authoritarian measures, though he rejects the term ‘democratic backsliding’.
The former ambassador continues by asserting that the Hungarian government is not truly conservative but merely using conservatism as a façade to enable corruption. ‘What’s happening in Hungary isn’t conservatism, it’s corruption,’ he declared, warning Americans not to fall for ‘the narrative that the Hungarian government is attempting to sell, both in the United States and in Europe, this bulwark of conservatism.’
The interview also touched upon Hungary’s educational reform, which aims to push back against the leftist agenda in universities. The initiative has received significant praise from conservatives across the Atlantic, who recognize the dangers of progressive ideological influence on campuses—one need only look at the anti-Israel protests and the discrimination against Israeli students at some of the United States’ most prestigious universities. US Vice President JD Vance has also endorsed the Hungarian model and advocated for similar measures in the US.
Of course, Pressman distorted the reform’s purpose to fit his narrative. ‘Anyone who is looking to Hungary as an example should understand clearly that what is happening is not an attempt to address cultural issues around conservative voices or liberal voices, but is an attempt to take assets and transfer them from the public purse to private pockets,’ he claimed. He further alleged that under the guise of improving the education system, ‘all of the resources of the universities became the ownership assets of a single political party.’
Pressman’s statement is factually incorrect. He refers to public interest trusts, which, following the reform, now manage the budgets of the institutions. At the time of writing, no active Fidesz-affiliated politicians sit on the boards of trustees.
‘Pressman appears unable to move past his failure to accomplish his primary mission, assigned to him by Joe Biden: to oust Orbán’s government’
What is particularly hypocritical is Pressman’s criticism of the Hungarian government’s alleged control over the media and its supposed use of state resources to smear political opponents. This is a long-standing accusation from Hungary’s Western critics. However, after Donald Trump and Elon Musk exposed the influence of globalist networks over much of the mainstream media—including the vast majority of opposition outlets in Hungary—it is more ironic than ever. Reuters even wrote a whole article on how Trump’s decision to halt USAID funding affected Hungarian opposition media and government-critical NGOs, many of which are now struggling to survive without American taxpayers’ money.
Moreover, under Pressman’s tenure, the US Embassy in Budapest actively engaged in paid social media campaigns—again, using US taxpayers’ money—discrediting the Hungarian government, criticizing its policies on biased grounds, and playing a key role in distributing US funds to so-called ‘independent’ media.
After a tenure that saw US–Hungary relations sink to an all-time low—culminating in Washington’s termination of the double taxation agreement and the sanctioning of a senior Hungarian government official under the Magnitsky Act—Pressman appears unable to move past his failure to accomplish his primary mission, assigned to him by Joe Biden: to oust Orbán’s government.
Yet, as he continues to attack Hungary at every opportunity, US–Hungary relations are already on the path to recovery under the Trump administration. While his successor has yet to be appointed, one of the leading candidates, Bryan E Leib, has repeatedly voiced support for the Hungarian government and actively countered Pressman’s smears. Following the NPR interview, Leib even called for defunding the broadcaster, sharing a post by Hungarian State Secretary for International Relation and Communications Zoltán Kovács on X.
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