"Magyar wasn't engaging in a policy debate... His framing was Viktor Orbán and Fidesz are a criminal organization and we need to dismantle this... he connected the impact of the criminal organization to these rural Hungarians' experience." @ambpressman.bsky.social on how Magyar beat Orbán.

@ambpressman.bsky.social: Under Viktor Orbán's authoritarian rule, the cost of a democratic vote was "extremely high"—reminiscent of developments we're now seeing under the Trump administration.

"Péter Magyar wasn’t calling out individual abuses. He was calling out an entire platform that was designed to enrich a kleptocratic elite and the family of Viktor Orbán." Important takeaways for us from @ambpressman.bsky.social:

Hello from Budapest, where the right wing expats are feeling glum www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/o...

With Putin in his corner and Vance on his doorstep… whatever services Orbán is providing, he’s got two very satisfied customers in Moscow and Mar-a-Lago. wapo.st/4v10TeD

Instrumentalizing one of America’s more powerful foreign policy tools to punish critics and reward loyalists. Some thoughts on sanctions, corruption, and Hungary on Morning Edition:

At Annual @aceducation.bsky.social Meeting, a Call to Uphold Higher Ed’s Mission The former ambassador to Hungary raised a stark warning about the authoritarian similarities between President Trump and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. https://bit.ly/46sKOUd #AcademicSky #HigherEd #EDUSky

"Appeasement is being coordinated while resistance is not" is exactly right. (This op-ed from Arne Duncan and David Pressman is excellent; I hope university leaders will read it.) www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Accommodation does not moderate authoritarian regimes, it emboldens them. An important reminder that college and university leaders must fight to protect our democracy and intellectual freedom on college campuses. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Read @arneduncan.bsky.social @ambpressman.bsky.social "When institutional self-preservation replaces moral leadership, universities abandon their core mission. This is a striking abdication of responsibility..from leaders entrusted with educating the next generation of citizens." wapo.st/4qomlXe

"Silence is not neutrality; it is permission," @arneduncan.bsky.social and @ambpressman.bsky.social write. https://wapo.st/45YQ01X

“…appeasement is being coordinated while resistance is not.” Some thoughts on authoritarianism and higher education with Secretary @arneduncan.bsky.social in the Washington Post. wapo.st/4qomlXe

Looking forward to joining @global-affairs.bsky.social for this discussion on illiberalism.

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...

💰🇷🇺🛢️ 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...