The US should stop indulging Hungary and Slovakia

In 2019, the then-Sen. Marco Rubio co-wrote an open letter to President Donald Trump, warning him about “the steady erosion of freedom, the rule of law and quality of governance” in Viktor Orban’s Hungary and pointed to Budapest’s strategic alignment with Moscow.

In a striking about-face, Rubio traveled to Budapest this week, this time as secretary of state, and offered Orban a public endorsement ahead of a high-stakes election this spring. What is more, on his way from the Munich Security Conference to Hungary, Rubio made a stop in Bratislava to meet with the leadership of Slovakia, a country committed to a “foreign policy of all azimuths” — a strategic approach aimed at fostering relations in all directions.