By Brad Greeley and Peter Somssich
On April 12 the unthinkable happened. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, a seemingly invincible autocrat and role-model for European oligarchs and conservative US politicians was voted out of office.
Hungarian voters flooded the zone with their ballots with 80% turnout, and handed the opposition party, TISZA, and their leader Peter Magyar a 70% majority of the parliament seats.
Mr. Magyar won his election by highlighting that the reason for Hungary’s affordability crisis was the direct result of corruption by the government and its allies. If voters want to continue this path, Mr. Magyar stated, they should vote for Orban. However, if they want change, they should vote for TISZA.
The complaints of Hungarians resemble those in our country. For them, everyday essentials including food were getting too expensive. Medical care, housing costs, education expenses were getting out of reach for most, while the government was catering to the rich and politically connected, even those living outside of the country. Hungarian voters connected corruption to their own quality of life and voted accordingly.
Here in the US, we see daily events that look very much like corruption, self-dealing and conflicts of interest which benefit President Trump and his family. But these self-interested actions also have a direct impact on our lives. Instead of investments in our schools, medical care, day-care, more secure retirement and improving our nation’s infrastructure, money is diverted (usually without approval by Congress) for the personal gain of Trump and his allies.
Here are a few examples:
1) Fake charges against Democratic office-holders, e.g. governors accused of defrauding the federal government,
2) Offering pardons to businessmen and politicians convicted of financial crimes in exchange for donations to President Trump and his family,
3) Dropping investigations of political donors to the President’s campaign, in exchange for business benefits to the Trump family,
4) Pardoning the duly convicted and sentenced Jan.6 criminals, and even offering them compensation, in exchange for political support,
5) Using no-bid contracts to businesses for government work if they support Trump’s family, even when, like the Reflecting Pool, the final cost is far beyond the initial bid,
6) Using presidential power to enrich the Trump family, and
7) Blocking agencies from investigating fraud and criminal behavior, if the party involved is a Trump supporter,
Just like in Hungary, in our country too, once corruption has depleted our treasury’s funds, there is not much left to make life affordable for Americans.
We also hope that American voters will be inspired by some of the Christian values we often hear mentioned but not spelled out. We are thinking of the simple injunctions by Jesus in his well-known Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the merciful. Or, no man can serve two masters, either God or mammon by whom he clearly meant the money changers and the rich (the eye of the needle).
Since we seem to have similar problems, perhaps, American voters will be inspired in November by Hungarian voters and by basic good values.
For more in depth info see: “This is the Formula that defeated Orban, It could defeat Trump Too”, by M. Gessen / New York Times 5/29/2026
Brad Greeley, New Castle NH, retired Unitarian Universalist minister.
Peter Somssich, Portsmouth NH, is a former State Representative and dual citizen of America and Hungary