Orbán in the US

After his controversial visit to Vienna, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has arrived in the US. He met with former president Donald Trump on Tuesday, and is scheduled to deliver a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday. Hungarian commentators are divided in their appraisal of Orbán's performance on this foreign tour.

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Magyar Hírlap (HU) /

A role model for the Republicans

The Republicans want to learn from the Hungarian PM, the pro-government Magyar Hírlap explains:

“Orbán will now have the chance to address the US public directly, which the left-liberals perceive as a serious threat. ... They've started to put pressure on the organisers and the US Republicans because of the incriminating passages in the prime minister's Tusványos speech, which he has since clarified. Unfortunately there are also many in the ranks of the Republican Party who are inclined to give in to such pressure. ... The important thing for us is that people in the US are interested in the Hungarian model and its recipe for success. They want to hear directly from Viktor Orbán how they can do things better.”

Népszava (HU) /

Not a place where you score points with racism

Orbán's visit to the US did not get off to a good start with his controversial speech, Népszava comments:

“The US takes pride in being seen as a social melting pot. In a country like this, using the term 'mixed race' in a pejorative sense clearly won't go down well with the population. ... In the US, race is a matter of identity and self-definition: while Vice President Kamala Harris, the child of an immigrant from India and an immigrant from Jamaica, defines herself simply as American, in the 2010 census 9 million US residents defined themselves as multiracial.”