RADIO FREE AMERICA: Can Jon Ossoff Be The American Péter Magyar?

He seems to get it

By Aaron Kleinman

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After seeing him trounce longtime Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán in an April election, some American observers decided that we need our own Péter Magyar. Writers in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Atlantic all tried to draw parallels between us and Hungary. They all stressed that there are lessons that Democrats can draw from a campaign that obsessively tied fighting corruption to the cost of living, without giving every left-wing interest group what they want. And yes, even Zohran Mamdani understands that. But they dance around the fact that Magyar was not immune to dabbling in nationalism.

The thing about Hungary is that, not long ago, it was a lot bigger. But significant portions of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire were converted into parts of other countries under the Treaty of Trianon that was part of the post-World War I peace settlement. Hungarians never really got over that, and resentment toward the humiliation curdled into a blood and soil nationalism that Orbán exploited for nearly two decades. Magyar tried to redirect that resentment into more international engagement in the region, but Hungarians angry over Trianon were still part of his coalition

Democrats should not permit blood and soil nationalism as part of a tack toward the center. Not just because it’s an odious idea, but because that’s not what America is about. This is a country founded on the idea that it doesn’t matter who your parents were or where you’re from, we are all created equal. The Founding Fathers were firmly against European aristocracy’s bullshit that later curdled into Hungarian irredentism.The American Péter Magyar needs to find a truly American creed to organize around.

Enter Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff.

See, this guy gets it. What makes you an American isn’t who your parents are, it’s whether you’ve bought into the idea from the Declaration of Independence that we are all created equal, with the inalienable rights to life, liberty and happiness. No need to nurture grievances over the American version of the Treaty of Trianon.

And if you listen to the rest of his speeches, he’s hitting some Magyar-esque bars

Calling your opponent the mafia is right out of the Magyar playbook. We’re closing on a decade of unprecedented corruption, and Democrats have flailed about trying to make it an issue. But Ossoff seems comfortable throwing punches here.

The real proof of concept will come in November, when he has to win re-election in a still-purple state. But it’s heartening to see him avoid the copypasta of “lowering costs for working families” that Democrats throw into the discourse like a goal line fade.

I’m cautiously optimistic that Ossoff has cracked the Hungarian code here. Which is great because as a Finno-Ugaric language, Hungarian is notoriously difficult to translate. We’ll know for sure when election results start rolling in five months from now, but if you’re looking for the American Péter Magyar, he might be a Delta flight away.

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AROUND AMERICA

-California held its primary on Tuesday, but we need to wait a bit for hot takes. As you may know, every candidate runs on the same ballot in the primary and the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the general. The ballots that haven’t been counted probably skew Democratic but it’s too early to tell who the general election candidates will be in the high profile gubernatorial and Los Angeles Mayor races, among others. We’re pretty sure the remaining ballots skew Democratic because, as of Wednesday morning, the Democrat was only leading the attorney general election by 10 points. Unless you think California swung 10 points to the right while Donald Trump’s approvals are in the mid-30s, the outstanding ballots here should be heavily Democratic. So please be patient; you don’t want to clown yourself like Bret Stephens. 

By the way, Bret, if you want to complain to my boss about this, his name is Rodney Gibbs, and you can reach him at rgibbs@heartlandsignal.com.

-The much smaller Iowa was able to count all of its ballots on Tuesday, and the gubernatorial and senatorial nominees are now set for two highly anticipated races. But in one overlooked race, Republican state Rep. Brian Lohse, who split with his party on some extreme abortion and LGBTQ+ rights bills, got trounced by nearly 50% in his suburban Des Moines seat. Instead, they’re going with Austin Stubbs, a fired high school football coach who had the cops called on his practice because he was treating his players so poorly. Which means that if he loses in November, maybe he can get a job working for Urban Meyer.

-Speaking of Urban Meyer, solidarity with our friend DJ Byrnes, who had to spend a day in jail because he texted erotic photos of Shrek to Ohio state Sen. Jerry Cirino. Not only is this protected speech, but it’s also part of a proud journalistic tradition.

–Last week, we noted that it’s unclear whether the likely Republican U.S. Senate nominee in Massachusetts killed a guy. This week, the leading candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Colorado says he killed a guy when he was seven and wouldn’t say how many other people he’s killed since then. Also he’s a minister. And the candidate polling in third is a state lawmaker who insists there’s a pedophilia ring being run out of the state capitol. He’s a minister, too.

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INTERNET STUFF THAT I LIKED

While most people thought I was staying up late on Tuesday to follow primary results, mostly I was trying to make an 82-0 team on 82-0, a game where you have to pick a starting five from five randomly chosen franchises and decades. This was the closest I got, and I might’ve gotten there if I had gone with sprightly Jayson Tatum instead of end-of-career Kevin Garnett. Until they start using efficiency stats, it appears the most important thing is getting Wilt Chamberlain on your team, because his counting stats are insane. Sadly, getting Shane Battier from the ‘00s Grizzlies doesn’t help!

So check out 82-0, the perfect game to play while listening to WCPT 820!

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BOOK CLUB

Most books about contemporaneous U.S. politics are useless. Well, not entirely useless; I do have one propping up my monitor right now. But by and large, they tend to be bland collections of press releases and posts. They would have worked as an email. 

The exception to this is my old boss’ new book, “The Fourth Branch: How State Government Can Save Our Union.” He let me read a preview copy, and I was shocked at how it was actually good. It’s a real book that doesn’t simply try to clobber you over the head with its message, but rather lets you come across it naturally as you get a forthright lesson in how politics at the state level actually operate — and why states matter. And trust me, I’m not glazing him because he was my boss. I used to tell him he had bad ideas all the time. 

So get a copy today. And tell him how much you love this newsletter at one of his many events.

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HELP ME OUT

So I heard a lot of good ideas for teams to cheer for when the USMNT gets eliminated, but then I remembered that former World Cup champions Uruguay got El Loco himself, Marcelo Bielsa, to coach them. He’s the Earl Weaver of soccer, and I don’t care that his team is about to mutiny against him. Uruguay all the way. Though I guess I am a bit partial to Scotland, too.

They haven’t felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978!

As for this week, I’m asking you to help someone else out. “Aqua Teen Hunger Force “ was the funniest animated show of the ‘00s. But because the money is in all the wrong places one of the show’s main voice actors, Carey Means, is homeless. He has a pretty great merch store as well as links to his Paypal and CashApp. So if you ever laughed at Adult Swim in the ‘00s, please consider helping out.

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