Hungarian Parliament building, Budapest. Photo courtesy Unsplash/Lachlan Gowen.
While mainstream news coverage has focused almost exclusively on Donald Trump, with the ubiquitous gratuitous glee over tag teaming indictments announced every time Joe Biden faces more evidence of corruption, the wheels are coming off U.S. foreign policy. It isn’t just the continuing repercussions from the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. It goes beyond U.S. support for openly Marxist and convicted felon Lula de Silva in Brazil, who now refuses to provide any help for Ukraine and aligns with China.
Biden foreign policy has become almost exclusively about Democrat progressive ideology and alienating much of the world. Foreign policy with Hungary is a perfect case in point.
From Radio Free Europe: “The (openly gay) U.S. ambassador to Hungary on June 16 blasted the policies of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government for stirring up hatred against gay people. ‘LGBTQ people are under attack in countries around the world, including in Hungary,’ David Pressman told the Budapest Pride festival.”
This comes as Pressman has continued to slam Hungary with outrageous slurs for holding to policies like traditional marriage and not fostering sexuality on children. The direction of the Biden administration in foreign policy have become almost solely about progressive ideology and that needs to stop.
The extent of Pressman’s passion and priority of LGBTQ+ acceptance goes beyond conservative criticism. The uber-progressive New York Times wrote this in February: “David Pressman, a gay human rights lawyer, knew he was in for a rough time even before he arrived in Hungary with his husband and two children to take up a new job in September as the United States’ ambassador to Europe’s self-declared citadel of traditional Christian values… Mr. Pressman has been accused of violating diplomatic conventions, meddling in the judiciary and trying to silence conservative voices. PestiSracok… denounced the appointment of a man it described as “an expert on L.G.B.T. rights” as “an obvious diplomatic provocation.”
During Pressman’s Senate confirmation hearing at which he slammed Hungary over LGBTQ+ issue, he also attacked Hungary for alleged “democratic backsliding. Democratic Senator Ed Markey chimed in and claimed Hungary was a “foe of democratic institutions and human rights. Noted Journalist Steven Sholl wrote of this hearing “In the Senate committee’s eyes, however, Hungary’s most grievous sin was its perceived erosion of LGBTQ+ rights. This was one of the few times the committee actually mentioned a concrete policy of the Hungarian government, namely, the banning of non-traditional sex education in school. Even though this was the policy of most American schools until 10 years ago, including my own in the now-notorious Loudoun County public schools, the committee framed this policy as the center of Hungary’s ‘democratic erosion.’ Pressman argued that this specific law was part of a larger campaign of the government to ‘exclude vulnerable populations from the democratic process.’”
Considering the untenably divided state of politics in America and Biden treatment of political opponents like Trump, it is beyond ironic to see Democrat criticism of Hungarian Democracy. According to the Pew Research Center, Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban has one of the highest approval rating in Europe. Roughly the same number of Hungarians think Democracy under Orban is either better or worse. This is in contrast with Joe Biden’s consistently abysmal approval ratings in the 30s, and Americans who believe Democracy is failing. From Pew: “most Hungarians approve of Orban’s performance as prime minister. As of this year’s survey, conducted in the weeks following his landslide electoral victory, 57% approve of Orban; just one-third disapprove of him.”
Pressman, Biden and the Democrats may not like the fact Hungarians believe in traditional marriage or protecting children from sexuality, but the data proves Democracy is functioning better than in the US right now. Particularly as Biden’s DOJ and Democrats have weaponized the justice system unlike in Hungary. On the issue of treatment of vulnerable populations in Hungary, the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities holds Hungary as one of the top places in Europe in terms of treatment of Jews.
While hammering places like Hungary, which hold to policies of America from a short time ago, it is noteworthy that the Biden administration gives a free pass on LGBTQ+ acceptance issues to atheist, Communist China. During the Senate hearings for Biden’s pick for ambassador to China, Nick Burns, nothing was said by him or Democrats about LGBTQ+ issues. Yet this is what NBC news published about China in this regard: “Many officials in the Chinese government view homosexuality as ‘a malign foreign influence that is stopping youth from getting married and having children,’ said Darius Longarino, a senior fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School… same-sex marriage and adoption are not allowed and LGBTQ people are not legally protected against discrimination.”
The Biden administration has shown its loyalty is to its progressive ideology over the American interest of solid allies, including those holding to traditional Christian beliefs. We have come to expect Democrats to foster progressivism in domestic policy, but following this in foreign policy is putting us in grave danger. The 2024 election is the only way our foreign policy can go back to normal, before we are completely isolated and disrespected on the world stage.
Bill Connor is an Orangeburg, S.C. attorney, Army Infantry Colonel and author of the book “Articles from War.” The Standard newspaper is available in print and online. You may find videos available on at TheStandardSC on Rumble. The bulk of TheStandardSC video media channel has been censored by dominant social media groups like YouTube. YouTube, owed by Alphabet (Google), removed and destroyed almost all of our video work without permission or remuneration. That has stopped all potential donations from our many supporters on that venue. If you want to continue to see independent thought and reports please “like”, comment, share with a friend, and donate to support The Standard on this page to assure the continued availability of news that is ignored too often by the dominant media.
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