Even though Karácsony is ridiculous, it doesn't bother anyone because it's part of his political face, they don't even expect him to be suitable.
Ferenc Gyurcsány was too aggressive and dangerous to be ridiculed, even though he did his best to do so. But it took years for the voters who helped him to power to realize this. Feri doesn't mind being ridiculous anymore, he trusts that Orbán and Fidesz will just disappear somehow, and then he will be the forced solution.
Gergely Karácsony - if such a thing is even possible - has done more than the other big laugher: his whole career is nothing but embarrassing upheavals, the ridiculous unsustainability of big announcements that become apparent within minutes, and a history of backtracking.
It is sad to say this, but such politicians are supported by the population of Budapest, who imagine themselves to be progressive and liberal and, of course, above all, cool. There are more than half a million voters in Pest who vote for the liberal candidate, for such a liberal candidate, even if both of his shoes are freshly covered in dog shit, because when he stepped over the homeless person in front of the kindergarten, while going around the car parked on the sidewalk, when he got upset in the traffic jam, he didn't look at his feet edge. He votes for Christmas even if the child has also stepped into shit, just in the mood of the one who is practicing freedom.
However, Christmas is not only inappropriate, but rather ridiculous in its main feature. He is not pitiable, because he is too pompous, laughable, ridiculous, notoriously bigoted, a lanky tall man who is used to being "looked up to". If we look at his political and public career on the basis of facts, we can recall a lot of betrayals, disruptions and stupidities that would have been unacceptable even without the kindness of the right-wing press.
Gergely Karácsony is (was) an excellent analyst, an excellent researcher, and, moreover, as a sociologist dealing with voter behavior. No one remembers this, just like the successes of left-wing governments, which Ildikó Lendvai used to recall, for example, because not even Ferenc could lie like that, because his face is still moving, but Gergely supposedly had a scientific and analytical career in the same way.
He was one of the faces and leading figures of the breakup of the LMP, and his role in the fact that Ferenc Gyurcsány was not ousted by the opposition cannot be overestimated. He was unable to admit that he didn't know English, he brought his hyperpassive language skills into the public consciousness, he was flattered by what kind of academic degree he did or did not have. He teamed up with the MSZP, became its candidate for prime minister, and then began to behave as if he had won the election before a two-thirds majority of the ruling party emerged. After a huge backlash in the primary election, he withdrew in favor of the MZP, which finished behind him. By the way he looked, even he knew that man was a disaster.
And despite all its disgustingness, this micro-donation case is also laughable, as it was revealed how incapable they are of doing anything seriously. It's amazing that they weren't willing to spend a few dozen working hours to do it properly and document the receipt of half a billion forints. This is not a City Hall case, they were just plain stupid, the case stalls before the really nasty things, of course it didn't go to Gergő either. But this micro-donation party is a net crime, and thus the political survival chances of the face of the matter, that is, Christmas, are not so bright.
After all this good, of course we have to answer how could he remain so incompetent at the forefront of Hungarian opposition politics for so long?
As a result of the combination of several factors that are important to him. First of all, if there were not such a big difference between the political preferences of the countryside and Budapest, the directly elected mayor could really be a serious national factor. But since this difference is decisive, it would be even more difficult than usual to build a mayor as a candidate for prime minister. Even if it is relatively successful. But the left never had a successful mayor, they didn't even have an idea for such a person. Demszky successfully held this position for two decades from any suitable person; the country, the political life, the political elites are used to the fact that the mayor's office is not a springboard to anywhere, whatever the foreign examples.
And István Tarlós did not want a national political career, and he was not even elected because of his undoubted suitability, but because Budapest was already spectacularly shit. And after two terms, the liberal voters realized that it was time to return to the previous feeling of life, that the orderly, functioning city was not their world. The extreme lack of cadres of the opposition and the significant popularity of Karácsony in this circle made the mayoralty a parking lot again. The opposition would be taking a big risk if he took it down, even if it might fail next year. They still don't have a suitable person, and if there were by chance, every opposition prime minister aspirant would risk that a politician capable of party building himself up in Budapest, maybe even a national politician. Of course, this does not threaten Christmas, and based on previous experience, money can be channeled freely. That's just fine for them.
The only remaining opposition party, the DK, is not strong enough in the capital to beat Fidesz if another opposition coalition also enters the election. The DK will make Karácsony smaller only if it can push the other opposition parties out of most of the local public life at the same time. This is a big temptation anyway, because even Momentum can lose out in the EP elections, not to mention the other dwarf parties.
Even though Karácsony is ridiculous, it doesn't bother anyone because it's part of his political face, they don't even expect him to be suitable.
This is one of the important innovations of the woke era: if the performance of a politician is simply unappreciable, but otherwise the circumstances fortunately keep the project alive - in this case a functioning country is the capital - then liberal voters do not feel that they should renounce their ideology on its expression in a vote.
Of course, he and his supporters could be worn down more with his ridiculousness, but not from the direction of incompetence, because - as I have already written, and this cannot be emphasized enough - today's Hungarian opposition voters do not expect political performance from those they vote for. And in Budapest, this may be enough, if the other voters are not stimulated by the decrease in the quality of life resulting from the activities of the city administration.
Featured image: PS/Gyula Péter Horváth
