As if Hungary is a significantly better place in terms of democracy, separation of powers and freedom of speech than Joe Biden's America!
Donald Trump, the previous (and perhaps the next) President of the United States, has been indicted. With a slight exaggeration: this is just the usual procedure, because this is the third criminal prosecution of the Republican politician within a few months, and the so-called impeachment procedure has also started against him as president. And not even once. So, there is no particular surprise in this. However, there can be plenty of lessons, let's take a look! The current prosecution documentation covers 45 pages and discusses how Trump influenced the 2020 election process, which ended in his downfall. Special prosecutor Jack Smith's motion contains a total of four charges, and does not skimp on statements that appear to be legal objections, but can also be interpreted as a political manifesto.
We have already reported on the details, but according to legal scholar Jonathan Turley, professor of public law at George Washington University, Trump is basically being accused of disinformation. As Fox News explained to the American channel:
what the indictment alleges is that Trump spread falsehoods to undermine the integrity of the 2020 election is actually part of free speech.
It is a right protected by the so-called First Amendment of the US Constitution.
The expert also pointed to a previous decision of the Supreme Court, based on which the criminalization of such and similar statements would "give the government such broad censorship powers that were unprecedented neither in the cases of this court nor in our constitutional traditions. The mere possibility of exercising this power makes me shudder.”
The indictment alleges more, for example, that Trump and his "co-conspirators" used the confusion in the midst of street violence following the announcement of the results to
spread their false claims about election fraud with redoubled force,
and based on these, convince the members of the congress to further postpone the authentication". Moreover, it is said that Trump convinced officials to find more Republican votes, and he unleashed the crowd on the Capitol.
Is freedom of speech in danger in America?
We have already written before that everything was not right with the 2020 voting, and that the attempt to overthrow the democratic order has been scuttled for years, but has not yet received legal form. Now, however, it seems very likely that Trump would eventually be brought to justice because he repeatedly accused his political opponents of fraud (according to the prosecutor's office, unfounded) using his right to freedom of speech. Undoubtedly, he did this as a reigning president, but at the same time as an American citizen.
Another weakness of the indictment is that it assumes that Donald Trump was aware that the claims he made about the election results were false. Yes, but the ex-president said what he heard from his lawyers and advisers. So the special prosecutor is practically holding him accountable for believing his own lawyers
– the Magyar Nemzet drew attention in its article the other day.
“But how can you legally prove that Trump really didn't believe his false claims? And even if Trump can be proven to have lied, how can his untruths be legally distinguished from the lies other political leaders have told over the years? When does a false statement cross the line of a crime in politics?" Turley, already quoted, explained the problems related to the indictment.
In any case, it can be stated: in the United States, on paper, the independent justice system can officially indict anyone who mentions fraud or expresses doubts about the outcome of the given election, no doubt without subtlety and from the presidency, as a criminal in an upcoming election campaign.
Fraud and deception
In the light of all this, let's take a look at Hungary, which was characterized by the sleepy and forgetful President Joe Biden's democratic administration step by step with violations of fundamental rights and similar accusations.
Organizations funded by America question the democratic nature of our country and express their concern about the alleged lack of checks and balances.
Oh, and in addition to the criticism and pressure from across the sea, dollars have also arrived, and are arriving in large numbers in the vicinity of the domestic opposition. To complete the picture!
And what has the opposition, and some of its emblematic representatives, done in recent years? Not many things, but one thing for sure: he questioned the integrity of the spring 2022 Hungarian elections, and some even called it a fraud.
For example, Péter Márki-Zay, the joint prime ministerial candidate of the left, who, following the Marosvásárhely ballot scandal, which was later considered a provocation, said the following about Fidesz:
"They are so afraid of defeat that they do not shy away from even the most obvious fraud."
Mayor Gergely Karácsony, former prime minister-candidate, as follows:
We always knew, but now they have been exposed: Fidesz wants to cheat in the election."
But we can also quote Ferenc Gyurcsány himself, who said this at the DK congress after the election defeat:
"This government is illegal, this government is immoral, this government is dishonest, this government is criminal."
Later, in May, he explained in the parliament: "The election is only a true reflection of the will of the people if the election is free and fair, but in Hungary, instead of the free flow of ideas and thoughts, people are surrounded by the manipulated publicity of power, which is why the election is not free. A government based on such an election is illegitimate.”
From that point on, the politicians of the South-Eastern part of the Republic of Germany repeated like a mantra that the Orbán cabinet was illegal.
Clear. According to the leading politicians of the opposition, Fidesz cheated in last year's election, the Gyurcsánys claim that the current cabinet is illegitimate and illegal. In addition to insulting three million Fidesz voters, the independence of the Hungarian institutional system is also strongly questioned, both at home and abroad.
Of course, we are hardly surprised by this, but if Trump, who has a much better chance of coming to power than the defeated Hungarian left, is threatened with prison by the justice system there for similar reasons, it could even be raised, the domestic opposition could be looked at in this area. Of course, we would not recommend this, in fact, but we would draw the following conclusion:
according to the signs, Hungary is considered a significantly better place than Joe Biden's America in terms of democracy, separation of powers and freedom of speech.
Fortunately, Hungary is a democracy, so this kind of thing doesn't even arise in our country.
Featured image: MTI/Péter Lakatos
