Newsmax’s John Gizzi is no stranger to writing fawning articles about Hungary’s right-wing government. He did it again in a March 25 column:
Now in its 14th year, Hungary’s policy of encouraging marriage and child-bearing continues, and is expanding.
With a lifelong exemption from income taxes recently extended for mothers who bear four children to those who bear three, as well as benefits such as a housing subsidy and funds for a “seven-seater automobile,” Hungary’s pro-family agenda has won high praise from such international figures as Pope Francis and Vice President JD Vance.
But the question is whether the pro-family agenda enacted under Prime Minister Viktor Orban will work in the long run.
Will it bring Hungary’s replacement rate for citizens who die or leave the country up to what is called “the magic number” — a fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman, or enough to maintain the Hungarian population without immigration, by 2030?
That’s the only reference to immigration Gizzi makes in his column — which means he’s downplaying one big reason for the policy. Hungary’s authoritarian right-wing leader, Viktor Orban, has long opposed immigration and is demanding even more laws against it.
Gizzi is also downplaying the fact that the country’s family policy has not been successful, and its anti-immigrant stance is just one reason why. One analysis points out that immigrants are largely forbidden from taking part in the family program, while LGBT couples are completely blocked from it, as are unmarried and divorced mothers.
While Gizzi quotes a Hungarian official touting that many who receive the birth subsidy will use it for “creating a house,” the analysis notes that this does little for families who do not have their own money to put toward buying a home, meaning that the program appears to mostly benefit wealthier families.
While Gizzi frets about whether the program will succeed, he ignores evidence that it’s not. The analysis reports that Hungary’s fertility rate for the first half of 2024 was the lowest in the last decade.
Gizzi is not the only Newsmax writer to suck up to Hungary. Fred Fleitz wrote in an April 9 column:
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made news last week — and generated significant criticism from the mainstream media, as well as the foreign policy establishment.
How?
He announced his nation would withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) during a visit to Hungary by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The ICC indicted Netanyahu last November because of the Israeli invasion of Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre of Israelis.
Orban’s actions followed two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump sanctioning the ICC for its politicized prosecutions of Israeli officials.
Several hours after Netanyahu landed in Hungary, the ICC sent the Hungarian government a request to arrest the Israeli leader and send him to an ICC detention center in The Hague.
Instead of complying with the ICC arrest order, Prime Minister Orban withdrew from the court, explaining, “This very important court has been diminished to a political tool and Hungary wishes to play no role in it.”
Fleitz offered no actual evidence of political motivation by the ICC. Instead, he rooted for the ICC’s destruction:
The International Criminal Court is an out-of-control international tribunal that represents a serious threat to American sovereignty and the freedom of U.S. citizens and the citizens of our allies.
Hungarian Prime Minister Orban made the right decision to stand with the United States against this dangerous world court.
President Trump should take additional actions to encourage other states to withdraw from the ICC and shut it down.
Fleitz didn’t explain why “American sovereignty” should and must supersede any court action anywhere.