America’s Envoy To Hungary, in a Bellwether of Coming Changes in Diplomatic Tone, Is Expected To Depart His Post

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Renegade ambassador to the Crown of St. Stephen, be gone — that wish of more than a few Hungarians is soon to become reality. The pending departure of the American ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman — nominated by President Biden in May 2022 — will leave the way open not only for a new Trump nominee but also signals a change in the way America will showcase herself overseas.

The news comes amid reports that the State Department, currently led by Secretary of State Blinken, held in-house therapy sessions for staffers left lachrymose by President-elect Trump’s election win. If true, this highlights the institutional failings of a department out of touch with the public it ostensibly serves and at risk of jeopardizing its prestige abroad.

It seems that Mr. Trump’s choice for Mr. Blinken’s replacement, Marco Rubio, will have some repair work to do from day one. While a president’s top cabinet picks tend to dominate headlines, in matters of foreign policy it is the rank and file, from top envoy on down, that actually leave the footprints around the world — and in the case of Mr. Pressman, it has not always been an elegant one.

Throughout his tenure Mr. Pressman has often broken with standard diplomatic protocol by openly criticizing Hungary. He is widely seen as having antagonized many in the conservative government of the country’s populist and frequently contrarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán.

To a certain extent, like any ambassador, he did the bidding of only his boss, the president. So when on the campaign trail President Biden had harsh words for Mr. Orbán, it was Mr. Pressman whom the Hungarians summoned for an explanation. In one of his own more colorful critiques of Mr. Orbán, Mr. Pressman accused the prime minister of treating the American election “like a card game at a casino.”

This transcends mere hemming and hawing. So strident was the diplomat’s attack that it raises questions of malfeasance. In response to an inquiry about that possibility, the State Department’s press office told the Sun, “Sorry, but we don’t have anything for you on this.” Mr. Pressman, however, has provided ample material in that direction himself.

There has been the expected criticism of Hungary over its lukewarm support for Ukraine — there again, however, a more seasoned diplomat might find more effective ways of making his case than by launching tirades against his hosts.

In the past Mr. Pressman, who is openly gay, has also vociferously criticized Hungarian legislation pertaining to traditional family values. The Hungarian Children Protection Act of 2021 in particular seems to have grated on him. The law banned gender reassignment surgery for minors under the age of 18 but did not, despite some reports to the contrary, ban homosexuality.

It is no secret that the Department of State under the Biden administration has been aggressively “woke” — and fair enough, Mr. Biden ran on, in part, woke issues — but countries like Hungary, by and large, are not. That tends to rankle the likes of Mr. Pressman and fellow foot soldiers of the left. Worse, aggressive “progressive” politicking has also arguably diminished America’s standing along the Danube and elsewhere.

One newsmaker who seems to share that belief is Bryan Leib, a 39-year old public relations executive, senior fellow of the Center for Fundamental Rights in Budapest, and a former candidate for Congress from the 25th District of Florida. Mr. Leib has been tipped as a possible ambassadorial nominee for Hungary in the incoming Trump administration. He has observed firsthand some of the deleterious effects of Foggy Bottom’s woke activism.

Of Ambassador Pressman’s comments about Mr. Orbán’s “reckless gambling” on Mr. Trump in the election campaign, Mr. Leib says, in a brief online interview, says that he thinks the comments are “totally unbecoming of a diplomat. Not only did he make these comments but if you visit the US Embassy in Budapest website, the first thing you will see is Pressman’s remarks on this topic. This is not diplomacy, this is activism,” Mr. Leib told the Sun.

In Mr. Leib’s view, “Pressman has done an enormous amount of harm to relations between Washington and Budapest. He has not increased trade relations in any way because he’s been too busy constantly criticizing PM Viktor Orbán and his government.”

Mr. Leib adds that Mr. Pressman “can’t even get a dinner reservation let alone a meeting with anyone in the Hungarian government. The good news is that people like myself have been working in a people to people capacity over the last two years to ensure the American people maintain strong ties with the Hungarian people.”

Mr. Pressman’s partisanship has arguably made the work of rank and file diplomats more difficult moving forward — and certainly during the transition period. While Congressman Darrell Issa did not name the ambassador, he did excoriate his boss, Secretary Blinken, in a complaint letter about the taxpayer-funded post-election “crying sessions” at State.

“The mere fact that the Department is hosting these sessions raises significant questions about the willingness of its personnel to implement the lawful policy priorities that the American people elected President Trump to pursue and implement,” Mr. Issa’s letter said in part.

“The Trump Administration has a mandate for wholesale change in the foreign policy arena,” Mr. Leib said, “and if foreign service officers cannot follow through on the American people’s preferences, they should resign and seek a political appointment in the next Democrat administration.”

The staff changes fast coming to the embassy at Budapest could be a bellwether of a return to more common-sense American diplomatic style across the map.

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