Chuck Darwin<p>The near-total freeze on foreign aid from the United States has many vocal detractors, but it also has passionate backers<br>—and nowhere more so than in Hungary, <br>where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s self-styled “illiberal democracy” has made him a darling of the global far right <br>and an ally of President Donald Trump.</p><p>Hungary recently escalated its efforts to stamp out pro-democracy groups and media organizations that rely on foreign funding <br>by naming a government minister to investigate USAID’s activities. </p><p>Today, that minister, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Andr%C3%A1s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>András</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>László</span></a>, was received in Washington by <a href="https://c.im/tags/Peter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Peter</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Marocco" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Marocco</span></a>, the top American official disassembling the agency from the inside. </p><p>The meeting, which was confirmed by a U.S. official and another person familiar with the gathering, <br>reflects the convergence of interests between Budapest and Washington. </p><p>Like the Trump administration, the Hungarian government has giddily embraced the idea that U.S. aid programs are not only wasteful and unnecessary but also criminal.<br><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/hungary-joins-doge-effort/681923/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theatlantic.com/politics/archi</span><span class="invisible">ve/2025/03/hungary-joins-doge-effort/681923/</span></a></p>