On Xi Jinping and Viktor Orbán; GOP veepstakes; merit and Asian Americans; the Met Gala; and more
In 2017, Vladimir Putin traveled to Budapest to meet with Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian leader. Orbán said, “We all sense — it’s in the air — that the world is in the process of a substantial realignment.” Putin, for his part, hailed Hungary as an “important and reliable partner for Russia in Europe.”
No one can doubt that.
Last week, Xi Jinping traveled to Budapest, to meet with Orbán. Said Orbán, “China is one of the pillars of the new world order.”
If this is true, that is very bad news for the world. China is a one-party dictatorship with a gulag. According to the U.S. State Department, the regime run by Xi Jinping is in the process of committing a genocide (against the Uyghur people).
I will quote from RFE/RL (our combination of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty):
China and Hungary will expand cooperation in several areas, including in the nuclear-power industry, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán announced . . .
Orbán said bilateral trade had quadrupled in the past 20 years, transforming relations between Beijing and Hungary into “a strategic partnership.”
From what I can tell, that is an accurate description: “a strategic partnership.”
More from the article:
Hungarian and Chinese officials were expected to sign 16 to 18 new cooperation agreements, one of which could be a large-scale infrastructure project within China’s huge Belt and Road project . . .
One sentence more:
Xi’s first trip to Europe in five years is seen as part of his drive to increase Beijing’s influence on the continent’s economic and political affairs.
This will likely be one of the stories of the next many years.
• In New York, Freedom House has given its 2024 Freedom Award to Wang Bingzhang, a Chinese political prisoner. He has been imprisoned — in horrifying conditions — since 2002. To learn more about Wang, go here. I have linked to Freedom House’s announcement of its award.
Ten years ago, I met a young woman named Ti-Anna Wang — the prisoner’s daughter. Remarkable, brave, and admirable person. Let me quote from an article I wrote:
She was born and raised in Montreal. Her father, though, decided that he would devote his life to the Chinese democracy movement. In 2002, when Ti-Anna was 13, her father was arrested. . . .
She tells me about her name. She was born on May 11, 1989. The Tiananmen Square demonstrations were just beginning (I believe). She went home from the hospital without a name. She was just Baby Wang. Her mother took her in a stroller to a rally in support of the democrats back in China. And, of course, on June 4, the Communists carried out their massacre.
Ti-Anna was named in honor of the Tiananmen Square victims.
• Last Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to Hungary noted something interesting:
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – notorious Holocaust denier and anti-Semite – was honored today as a “special guest” of Hungary’s National University of Public Service, a state institution training Hungary’s future leaders… (1/2)
— Ambassador David Pressman (@USAmbHungary) May 8, 2024
• For the New York Times, Sharon Otterman has written a fascinating report: “An Inside Look at the Student Takeover of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall.” The subheading of that report: “Maintenance workers had a firsthand view of how protesters seized the building, and wondered why the university failed to stop it.”
• At a rally in Wisconsin, Donald Trump said, “We’re going to give our police their power back, and we are going to give them immunity from prosecution.” This would be contrary to the rule of law — which no man is above, even if he wears a badge. Any American conservatism worthy of the name will stand for the rule of law.
• Trump seems to have been spooked by the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:
“And by the way, he said the other night that vaccines are fine. He said it on a show, a television show, that vaccines are fine. He’s all for them. And that’s what he said. And for those of you that want to vote because you think he’s an anti-vaxxer — he’s not really an anti-vaxxer.”
Just so you know. (To watch Trump talk about RFK Jr., go here.)
• Trump did not commit to accepting the results of the 2016 election. He did not commit to accepting the results of the 2020 election. He will not commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election.
(So, a consistent politician — pretty rare.)
Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.) is a potential running mate for Trump. On Meet the Press, Kristen Welker asked Scott whether he would accept the results of the election. He said, “At the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump.” Welker asked him again. Scott said, “That is my statement,” referring to his previous answer. Welker asked him again. He said, “I look forward to President Trump being the 47th president.” She asked again. He said, “This is why so many Americans believe that NBC is an extension of the Democrat Party.” She asked again. He said, “ I expect President Trump to win the next election.”
If a person cannot commit to accepting the results of a democratic election, he is not fit for democratic politics.
• In her quickly notorious autobiography, Governor Kristi Noem (R., S.D.) claimed to have met Kim Jong-un. She has now withdrawn that claim. But oddly, she won’t say whether she met Kim or not.
I thought of Trump, debating his fellow Republicans in the 2016 cycle. He said of Putin, “I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes. We were stablemates.” But this was made up. Entirely made up. Trump and Putin had not yet met.
This kind of thing did not, and cannot, make a dent in Trump. Can it make a dent in smaller MAGA fry, such as Noem? It apparently can.
• “A group of Republicans has united to defend the legitimacy of U.S. elections and those who run them.” That is a headline from the Associated Press. I find it encouraging news. (For the article, go here.)
• Let me make a cultural note. The other night, I was covering a concert of the New York Philharmonic. Most of the string players, it seemed to me, were Asian, and Asian women in particular. (I don’t give a rat’s what they are. I care how musicians play.) I thought of Abigail Thernstrom.
In 2001, the president of the University of California proposed doing away with the SAT. That is, he proposed ending the use of the exam as a requirement for admission. I asked Abby what she thought of the idea. She said, “This is a dagger aimed at the heart of Asians.”
Today, there are those who want to do away with blind auditions for orchestras. (You audition behind a curtain or screen. No one can see what you look like.) I thought: a dagger in the heart of Asians.
• The Met Gala is an annual event, and this year’s affair took place a week ago. This is a fundraising evening for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A lot of people like to make fun of it. That’s okay. A lot of people like to make fun of a lot of things.
I thought of my old friends Bill and Pat Buckley — who were fixtures at the gala. In fact, Pat was its chairman for 17 years in a row. (She succeeded Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the position.) The Buckleys liked a good time. And they provided many.
Nothing wrong with that, and a lot right with it.
• Speaking of glamorous affairs, I was reading an obit of Bernard Hill, an English actor. (Bear with me.) He was in two of the three Lord of the Rings movies. Let me quote from that obit:
When the BBC asked this miner’s son about the “glamour” of the “Lord of the Rings” premieres, he demurred.
“Well, it’s like running a marathon in a fur coat,” he said. “It’s hard work, but it looks glamorous from the outside.”
I love that: “like running a marathon in a fur coat.” (I’ve never tried it even in normal runner’s wear.) (Never will.) (So far as I know.)
(There’s a famous statement in Chariots of Fire, as I recall: “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.” When I run, I feel His wrath.)
• A speck of music? For a review of Yefim Bronfman, the pianist, in recital at Carnegie Hall, go here.
• What I strongly recommend is a piece by Tom Nichols: “The Cat Who Saved Me.” It is so honest. So powerful. (Those two things are related.) It begins, “Almost 15 years ago, I was in bad shape. I was divorced, broke, drinking too much, and living in a dated walk-up next to a noisy bar.” Then he met this cat, who would be named Carla.
• Oh, I have so much more to tell you. But I should wrap up, having kept you long enough. I wonder whether you’ve made the acquaintance of Keon Coleman. He is one of my new favorite athletes — certainly one of my new favorite interviewees. I hang on his every word. Age 20, he plays for the Buffalo Bills (in the NFL). Have a sample of him here. On his golf game: “I’m Tiger Wish-He-Could, not Tiger Woods.” Love him.
Later.
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