Don’t you just love it!

A couple of days ago, John McCain, a senior Republican told the U.S. Senate: “I am not against political appointees … I understand how the game is played, but … (Hungary) … is on the verge of ceding its sovereignty to a neo-fascist dictator, getting in bed with Vladimir Putin, and we’re going to send the producer of ‘The Bold and The Beautiful’ as the ambassador.”

Yes, Senator McCain during a political spat over the appointment of Hollywood producer, Colleen Bell, as U.S. Ambassador in Budapest has called Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “a neo-fascist dictator”, who is getting in bed with Vladimir Putin. I might add that Newsweek called Mr. Orbán “Hungary’s Mussolini.”

But in this case, Mr. Orbán has every reason to be upset.

Mr. Tamás Fellegi, an ex-minister of the Orbán Government and an alleged confidant of PM Orbán operates The Hungary Initiatives Foundation in Washington DC. On paper, the Foundation is an independent, non-partisan and non-profit organization “committed to strengthening the understanding and cooperation between Hungary and the Unites States of America.”

The foundation distributes Hungarian taxpayer’s moneys to various US institutions, among them, a political think-tank called the McCain Institute, founded by Senator McCain and his wife, Cindy. The Executive Director of the Institute is Mr. Kurt Volker, who also sits on the board of The Hungary Initiatives Foundation. The McCain Institute recently received monetary contributions from the Hungarian Foundation in the amount of $125,000.

It is a pretty comfortable arrangement, I wonder if these guys ever heard the term “conflict of interest.”

In 2011 Mr. Volker also received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit from Hungarian President Pál Schmitt who called him “a true friend of Hungary, an important supporter of closer Hungarian-American relations.” He also said that “Hungarian leaders could always count on his help and his benevolent advice.” Mr. Volker is an astute ex-CIA operative who speaks fluent Hungarian.

As I mentioned, Mr. Orbán is very upset. He is supporting the McCain Institute with hard cash, the least he could expect some respect from the Senator. The think-tank took his money, and McCain later called him a neo-fascist dictator.

Mr. Orbán has learned how American politics work the hard way. An American politician will do anything to get financial contribution. Sometimes he will even tell the truth.

Kudos to Senator McCain!

György Lázár