Lawyers, universities, and execs think they’re satisfying the President’s ego by performing a little lie, by doing something in a “deal” they’d do anyway. But as in Hungary, these “deals” are the dead man’s walk of the one thing our democracy can’t live without: independence time.com/7332003/vikt...

Some thoughts in Time on the Orban/Trump meeting today. "Theirs is a war not so much on liberals or even just a war on independent institutions (central to any democracy), but on the very idea that anything is ever “independent.”'
time.com/7332003/vikt...

Next week, Hungarians will honor those who sacrificed all to rid Hungary of an aggressive Russian empire in '56. Yes, POTUS visiting Hungary is a huge political favor to Orban. But rolling out the red carpet for a war criminal is ultimately a massive favor to Putin, again facilitated by Orban.

What we're reading: This chilling piece from a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman. "I came to understand that the real danger of a strongman isn’t his tactics; it’s how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

“After years watching Hungary suffocate under the weight of its democratic collapse, I came to understand that the real danger of a strongman isn’t his tactics; it’s how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence.” (gift article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

David Pressman was a terrific and brave ambassador in Hungary, modeling the best of American values. His analysis is very worth reading! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

Good read from Amb. David Pressman | I Watched It Happen in Hungary. Now It’s Happening Here. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

Urgent piece by @ambpressman.bsky.social about the dangers of capitulation to the administration - we know from Hungary what happens when “those best positioned to uphold democratic norms chose the comfort of an illusion over the courage of action”

Democracies collapse not just through force, but through the naïve self-confidence of elites. What should alarm us isn’t that strongmen follow similar playbooks, but that our elites do too. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

TRUMP IS INSPIRING AUTOCRATS AROUND THE WORD to roll back human rights, democratic rights and the rule of law. Some are giving him credit @anthonyfaiola.bsky.social reports

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Autocrats roll back rights and rule of law — and cite Trump’s example

Orban noted Biden’s ambassador to 🇭🇺 David Pressman, a fierce Orban critic directly challenged the democratic backsliding — and made a point of participating in Budapest Pride, an event w/ 35K people to 🇭🇺 capital, to protect it.

“Orban himself noted that the Biden administration’s ambassador to Hungary made a point of participating in Budapest Pride, an event that has brought 35,000 people to the Hungarian capital, to protect it.” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/T...

💰🇷🇺🛢️ PM Viktor Orbán negotiated an exemption from EU sanctions on Russian pipeline oil, “and in 2022, arbitraged the price and made $2.2 billion that then went into his government and… to this oligarch network.”

Orbán is simply pro-Kremlin "for power and money," @ambpressman.bsky.social explains.

“In fact, what's happening in Hungary isn't conservativism; it's corruption. It’s a system that's designed to enrich a clique of elites to take public assets & put them in private pockets, while talking” up conservative values, ex US ambassador David Pressman told NPR

An urgent and important exclusive interview with the outgoing US ambassador to Hungary. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/m...