Hungary Bucks US Ambassador 

You are not signed in as a Premium user; you are viewing the free version of this program. Premium users have access to full-length programs with limited commercials and receive a 10% discount in the store! Sign up for only one day for the low cost of $1.99. Click the button below.

See All Plans

BUDAPEST, Hungary (ChurchMilitant.com) - Outraged Hungarians are pushing back against the U.S. government's effort to denigrate their nation's sovereignty.

The U.S. ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, is a gay Biden appointee. He has been criticizing the nation since he arrived in September 2022. His faithfulness to leftist handlers in Washington (and elsewhere) earned him the ire of many a Hungarian patriot.

President of Hungary's Human Life International, Imre Téglásy, tells Church Militant, "Nobody cares about the sexual orientation of the U.S. ambassador in Budapest. This is privacy." He goes on to declare, "However, everyone is interested when someone attacks the host country's government on a daily basis."

"The Hungarian ambassador in Washington does not criticize the Biden administration, because it is an internal matter. He is trying to create friendly relations beneficial to both countries. This is what embassies are called to do," the pro-life advocate and abortion survivor added.

Despite such truisms, Pressman continues to poke at Hungary, particularly its prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and at its relatively neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, framing any calls for peace as siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Under Pressman's direction, and just one month after his arrival in Budapest, the U.S. Embassy posted on Twitter a video quiz challenging participants to guess whether quotes came from Hungarian public figures or Putin. The answers were never Putin in this game, designed to denigrate and undermine Hungary's current conservative ruling party, Fidesz.

The main part of the tweet, dated Oct. 17, 2022, stated,

Fed up with Pressman's antics, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó shot back, "Hungary is a sovereign country, no one from the outside can tell us how to live."

Szijjártó added: 

It is irrelevant — absolutely irrelevant — what [Pressman] or any other ambassador thinks about domestic political developments in Hungary because it has nothing to do with them. It is not for him to interfere in Hungary's internal affairs, and if he wishes to use his stay in Hungary to criticize the actions of a government elected by a clear majority of the Hungarian people and legitimized by the Hungarian people, he will have a very difficult job in working effectively to improve cooperation between the two countries. 

Even before the openly gay ambassador set foot in the Szabadság tér, the U.S. embassy in Budapest, ordinary Hungarians understood that Pressman's appointment was intended to be a diplomatic affront.

Téglásy said he and many Hungarians scratched their heads at the appointment. "They could have sent a white, hetero, Christian ambassador, right?"

The Biden administration obviously had not forgotten Hungary's impressive win two years ago in protecting its children from the radical LGBT lobby.

It recalled Hungary's sweeping legislation protecting children from LGBT ideology, including pedophilia, pornography and transgenderism, which called out for a tit for tat.

A recent article titled "Smack-Down! Hungary Pushes Back Against Obnoxious US Ambassador" understands the dynamic and asks, "So what better way to get back at Hungary than for Biden's handlers to send a man married to another man — with two children — to parade around Hungary as the face of America?"

To send the ambassador a preliminary message, one month before Pressman's arrival, Téglásy and another patriot launched a rubber dinghy onto the Danube River in front of the Parliament building. It carried a sign that read in English and in Hungarian, "Mr. Pressman, don't colonize Hungary with your cult of death."

Téglásy — a Catholic — explained, "I set up the poster as a caution to him, so that he will not misuse the title of ambassador of the great country of America by interfering in Hungary's internal affairs." 

He revealed to Church Militant that Pressman reacted predictably to the memo "by accusing me of hate speech."

Pressman's leftist ties run deep. Yesterday, Magyar Nemzet, a major Hungarian newspaper, reported on his work for a George Soros organization. Soros is noted for funding policy efforts as well as social unrest that undermine the family and increase dependence on the state. This, it argued, "may provide an answer to why the American ambassador is launching a continuous series of attacks against Hungary." 

According to the newspaper, Pressman was a staff member of the American Civil Liberties Union in Chicago, handling matters involving "litigation, public speaking, education and advocacy, among other things."

Pressman and his minions are creating a lot of waves in Hungary and headaches for Orbán and his conservative Fidesz Party. As Téglásy noted, "They seize on every topic in order to make Hungary obsolete."

But the 1,100-year-old Christian country has history — and St. Stephen — on its side. One Hungarian commentator recently wrote about his country's resolve in light of recent challenges: 

[N]either the Ottoman, nor the Habsburg, nor the Nazi, nor the Soviet empires exist anymore, but we are here. The USA will soon be 250 years old, our state was here during the Tatar invasion. We received a big slap, but we were able to get back on our feet ... .

Téglásy calls Pressman "a rude American who thinks he can do anything he wants — no reservations." He further commented, "Isn't there some diplomatic training? It is time to show some proper and respectful professionalism."

Have a news tip? Submit news to our tip line.

We rely on you to support our news reporting. Please donate today.