What happened
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Hungary yesterday and reiterated President Donald Trump’s “extraordinarily close relationship” with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is facing a tough re-election fight after nearly 16 years in power. Orbán’s main challenger in the April 12 vote, Péter Magyar of the center-right Tisza party, launched his campaign to unseat his former ally on Sunday, pledging to fight corruption and restore Hungary’s alignment toward Western Europe. 

Who said what
Magyar, an influential member of Orbán’s far-right nationalist Fidesz party before breaking away in 2024, has quickly “grown Tisza” into a “formidable political force,” The Associated Press said. “Most independent polls show Tisza with a significant lead” that “has held steady for more than a year.” Orbán’s “success in bringing the judiciary and media to heel” as he worked to “weaken democracy in Hungary” has “raised questions about the fairness of any election in Hungary,” The New York Times said. But Magyar is giving him an “apparently tough challenge.”

Rubio’s attempt to throw Orbán a “political lifeline” is the “latest example of the Trump administration working to keep in power right-wing populist leaders” who offer “enthusiastic praise for Trump” and “are seen as ideologically aligned,” The Washington Post said. Trump is “deeply committed to your success” and “we want this country to do well,” Rubio told Orbán, “especially as long as you’re the prime minister.” 

What next?
Rubio’s “warm words” for Orbán “stopped short of a formal election endorsement,” but Trump himself endorsed the Hungarian leader last week, Politico said. Orbán is “also expected to travel to Washington this week for the inaugural meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace.”

What happened
A federal judge in Pennsylvania yesterday ordered the Trump administration to restore an exhibit on President George Washington and slavery to a museum in Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park while the city’s lawsuit challenging last month’s removal plays out in court. The National Park Service said it removed 34 panels plus video exhibits from the President’s House Site, where Washington and John Adams lived during their presidencies, to ensure “accuracy, honesty and alignment with shared national values,” as ordered by President Donald Trump.

Who said what
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, said the Park Service violated a law that “specifically limited” the Interior Department’s authority to “unilaterally alter or control” the historical park without consulting with the city. But she also included several references to George Orwell’s best-known dystopian novel about totalitarianism. 

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s ‘1984’ now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims — to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts,” Rufe wrote in her 40-page opinion. “It does not.” Washington kept nine enslaved people at the Philadelphia residence, she noted, and “each person who visits the President’s House and does not learn of the realities of founding-era slavery receives a false account of this country’s history.”

What next?
Rufe’s ruling “does not give the government a deadline for the restoration of the site,” The Philadelphia Inquirer said, but it prevents further alterations. “Unless stayed by a higher court,” the injunction will remain in place until Rufe “enters her final ruling,” The New York Times said, and yesterday’s opinion “signals that she believes the city has a strong case and is likely to prevail.”