The latest episode of the Danube Institute’s podcast examines the emerging new world order under a Donald Trump presidency. Hosted by Rod Dreher, the episode features expert predictions on significant shifts in US foreign policy and their broader global implications.

An Afghan migrant, killed two people, including a toddler, in a knife attack in the German city of Aschaffenburg. The tragic incident marks the fourth immigration-related attack in just over six months, further heightening tensions ahead of the early elections in February.

The European Commission has decided to suspend Vienna’s Modul University from participating in the Erasmus+ and Horizon programmes, mirroring a similar decision made against 21 Hungarian universities in late 2022. Balázs Orbán, the political director of the Hungarian prime minister, condemned the decision as outrageous and pledged to defend academic freedom.

Donald Trump’s second presidency may bring a trade war between the EU and the United States. According to German weekly Die Zeit, Viktor Orbán could play a pivotal role in the trade negotiations should that happen.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico met in in Bratislava on Tuesday to discuss energy security issues. The two leaders also pledged to steadfastly oppose Ukraine’s NATO membership.

Despite the end of the Democratic administration in the US and the departure of Joe Biden’s controversial ambassador to Hungary, the interference in Hungarian domestic affairs continues. On the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration, the US Embassy in Budapest awarded millions of Hungarian forint in grants to opposition-aligned media outlets.

Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on Monday. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of the US President, extended his congratulations, stressing that from now on the sun will shine differently over Brussels as well.

‘Our task now is to safeguard the TurkStream pipeline to ensure Hungary’s energy security,’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stressed after meeting Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Orbán warned that Europe is heading toward another energy crisis, calling the skyrocketing fuel prices ‘outrageous.’

First Vice-President of Patriots for Europe, Kinga Gál, will lead the right-wing European Parliament political group’s delegation at Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington on Monday. The ceremony, unconventional in many ways, will be the first since Ronald Reagan’s in 1985 to be held indoors due to extreme cold.

As the Israel–Hamas ceasefire deal enters force, Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced that Omri Miran, a Hungarian Israeli hostage held in Gaza, will be released during the second phase of the agreement.

While the Western mainstream has launched an all-out assault on Elon Musk, Patriots for Europe has invited the American billionaire to lecture at the European Parliament on free speech. If anyone understands what it means to be suppressed by the mainstream it’s PfE, currently behind a cordon sanitaire in the EP, barred from holding chair and vice-chair positions in committees.

‘When Brussels’ antagonism was previously limited to Hungary and Poland, it was easier to frame Budapest and Warsaw as isolated cases. However, this narrative is rapidly collapsing. It won’t be long before Brussels finds itself in opposition to the majority of member states and the will of their electorates.’

‘For Europe, openness has always been a competitive advantage, underpinning its prosperity and global influence,’ State Secretary for International Communication Zoltán Kovács highlighted in a recent interview with Eurasia magazine.

Even after stepping down as US Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman can’t seem to resist his biased criticisms and false accusations against the Hungarian government. In a major interview with The New York Times, he exclusively discussed his claim that Hungary is not a democracy. Political director of the Hungarian Prime Minister Balázs Orbán, however, hit back with a clever response.

Hungarophobic MEP Daniel Freund mockingly posted several times about Viktor Orbán not being invited to Donald Trump’s inauguration next Monday. Freund obviously has no idea what he is talking about. Our commentary.

As devastating fires ravage California, the affected communities are in urgent need of assistance to evacuate, survive, and rebuild their lives. Éva Voisin, Hungary’s honorary consul in San Francisco, spoke with Hungary Today about the Hungarian community’s response to the catastrophe.

US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump both claimed credit for the ceasefire deal reached between Hamas and Israel on Wednesday. However, third-party sources confirmed that Trump’s Mideast special envoy, Steve Witkoff, accomplished more to secure the agreement in a single meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu than Biden did over the past year.

On Wednesday evening news broke that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire deal. While the information was confirmed by US and Hamas officials, Benjamin Netanyahu clarified that the final agreement would be finalized overnight, while US President-elect Donald Trump pledged that Gaza would ‘never again become a terrorist haven.’

United opposition parties have filed a motion of no confidence against Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico over his ties with Vladimir Putin and his pro-peace stance on the war in Ukraine. Fico, who survived an assassination attempt in May, has halted state-level weapon shipments to Kyiv and remains in constant conflict with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, a longtime ally of Viktor Orbán, called for a confidence referendum against himself after a survey revealed that more than 50 per cent of Serbians want him out of office. The Serbian President stated that ‘legitimacy is the cornerstone of politics and that sovereignty always stems from the will of the people.’

After Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico extended an invitation for talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded with his characteristic brand of arrogant diplomacy. Kyiv has adopted a similarly combative style in its interactions with Hungary.

Since Hungary granted political asylum to the persecuted former Polish Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, Donald Tusk’s government has launched a retaliatory campaign against Hungary’s ambassador to Warsaw, István Ijjártó. According to Polish media reports, this campaign could culminate in Ijjártó’s expulsion from the country.

On 14 January, after just over two years, US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman’s tenure came to an end. His legacy will be remembered not for strengthening US–Hungarian relations, but for significantly undermining them.

Trump’s emphasis on national interests enables Hungary to prioritize its own, Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s political director, noted during a high-profile panel discussion held in Vienna, Austria on Sunday. The panel featuring international experts focused on the potential impact of Donald Trump’s second presidency on the future of Europe.

Hungarian governing party Fidesz’s MEP András László shared a lengthy post on X, drawing attention to the Western double standard regarding billionaires meddling in European politics. He pointed out the contrasting treatment of Elon Musk and George Soros, with the latter being praised while the former is demonized. Musk retweeted the post, causing it to go viral within a few days.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu took to the streets in Bucharest on Sunday to protest the annulment of the presidential election. With no concrete evidence emerging to substantiate the allegations of Russian interference, it has become increasingly evident that the progressive elite will go to any lengths to remain in power.

US President-elect Donald Trump announced his readiness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, a statement reaffirmed by the Kremlin the following day. With a pro-peace administration set to take power in the United States and significant political shifts already underway in Europe, the pro-war EU is finding itself isolated in its unconditional support for Ukraine.

The US Embassy in Hungary issued a warning on Friday via a Facebook post, targeting ‘those who are in business’ with Antal Rogán, a senior Hungarian government official sanctioned by the US Treasury on Tuesday. In an exclusive statement to Hungarian Conservative, Bryan Leib, a potential successor to US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman, stated that everything would change following Donald Trump’s inauguration.

‘Alice Weidel is a very reasonable person, and hopefully, people can tell just from this conversation—nothing outrageous has been proposed, just common sense,’ said US billionaire Elon Musk during a conversation lasting over an hour with the AfD’s co-chair. Musk, who has faced accusations of election interference from Western progressives, also encouraged Germans to support the right-wing party.

Former US Ambassador to Hungary David Cornstein has joined the critics of the Biden administration’s decision to impose sanctions on senior Hungarian government official Antal Rogán. Cornstein characterized the decision as ‘terrible and shameful’.