“What really struck me was that with a two-minute signature, Katalin Novák put a parenthesis on all the many years of hard work that she and her team did for families as Minister of Family Affairs at the time. A family support system that might be accessed from anywhere in the world. And for such a case, an unacceptable and indefensible case, he put everything he worked for in parentheses and undermined the number one foundation of Fidesz,” Rákay said, according to whom “the minimum was that he had to resign, I said on Monday instead of Katalin Novák down”.
The producer-influencer said he “knows first hand” that Viktor Orbán learned regarding the presidential pardon from a press review following the publication of the first article, during the break of the government meeting in Sopronbánfalva. “It is shocking that such a case can be carried out without the Prime Minister having any knowledge of it. I think this is somewhat chilling, because such political mistakes cannot be made,” he added.
He does not know whether Novák resigned on his own, but if he had been in his place, he would have avoided the appearance of “days going by with a case here, there is nothing to see here, let’s move on, all pardon cases are of the divisive type, very bad and unacceptable sentences are coming”.
“On Monday, when the newspaper article appeared, I would have immediately called a press conference and said that I made a huge mistake, thank you”
– He told.
According to him, the pardon case was a serious trauma and caused confusion among right-wing intellectuals, because no one wanted to believe that Novák was capable of making such a big mistake, said Rákay. According to him, this case “can never be closed, because it shook something in many of us, in matters of human and internal importance”. He added: “There is no normal person, especially in the decision-making circle, for whom this would not sound the alarm.”
It shook the camp
“That’s why it hurts a lot when, in my opinion, Fidesz is accused of pedophiles in a completely vile and illegal way, because to blame an entire political community or even Katalin Novák, who of course made a gigantic mistake, but I would not think that she is a supporter of pedophiles… only when such a political stamp arrives does it, of course, shake the camp.”
When asked if it is correct that Zoltán Balog is still a bishop in the Reformed Church, Rákay said that although he is a Roman Catholic, he would stay away from interfering in the internal affairs of the Reformed, noting that
“one day everyone will have to pay attention to their conscience, that moment will come, I don’t think it will be pleasant”.
Perfectly believing right-wing mediums
Regarding media relations, he stated that “let’s look at the ratings of public television and compare them with the ratings of individual videos of the most popular YouTube channels. Today, to say that it is impossible for left-wing opinions to reach people is a blatant lie. It was not by chance that we joined Facebook at the time with Megafon. Because we saw that the right-wing represented itself there at all or hardly at all. Neither the politicians nor the opinion leaders were there, it was a sandbox dominated by the left. When Megafon appeared, order was somehow restored, but if we were to do the math, even now there are at least as many left-wing commentators,” said Rákay.
“How balanced are media relations? I think the left is overrepresented, I still think so”
– answered the question whether Fidesz has enough media. He thinks that perhaps we are approaching a balanced balance of power, “but I don’t see any blatant disproportionality, especially not in favor of the right.”
Regarding the extent to which KESMA’s media belong to Fidesz, he said that “in my opinion, it is indeed the job of a government to communicate with people in such a way that it comes across clearly and cleanly. And why shouldn’t there be other right-wing media outlets that might express material not as mouthpieces, but simply as representatives of the same government narrative, as full believers in it. I don’t see anything from the devil in this.”
When asked if he considers Origo, Magyar Nemzet or TV2 Hírado to be a mouthpiece, he said that he does not consider Origo to be a mouthpiece, and otherwise “if we were to look at media relations in Germany, hold on, the situation is much worse there. A media world that is so limited and closed, such as the German one, cannot show one more,” he said, then added:
“There, the media is unanimous, not to mention that it is mainly in American hands, and people are brainwashed in such a way that it is amazing. There, dissent is zero.”
They resonate with the government narrative
He did not reveal how much money he has supported Megafon with so far, but he said that “only I know at least 10-15 right-wing, patriotic entrepreneurs who, like me, support the operation of Megafon with regular or individual amounts. I consider this also part of the mission.”
When asked whether there is public money in Megafon, he does not dare to say yes or no 100 percent, because he has never seen the income data or the organization’s budget, but he believes István Kovács, who has consistently claimed for years that there is no public money in Megafon.
There “doesn’t need to be official coordination between the government and Megafon, because editors and patriotic opinion-makers work there who resonate with the government’s narrative and represent something, not at all in a secret way.”
Szentkirályi or Vitézy?
Alexandra Szentkirályi – she answered the question whether she would choose her or Dávid Vitézy. “Obviously, as a member of Fidesz, I say that I support Szentkirályi, but not only because of party loyalty, but because I know him, I know him so personally that he is a very intelligent, well-prepared, decent person, who at the time, as the deputy of István Tarlós, did a lot of work that it predestines him to know what it means to run a city”.
“By the way, I consider Dávid Vitézy to be a brilliant urban management professional in the noblest sense of the word. His preparation or professionalism is unquestionable from any angle I look at it.”
He added: “I’ve known him for a very long time, I was on good terms with his parents, so I say that whichever of them will be the runner-up, whether Alexanda or Dávid, Budapest can only do better with the totally lame and politically unviable Gergely Karácsony city management, where we simply see, living here, in this city, what is happening and what has not been happening for years.”
Regarding Szentkirály’s possible resignation, he said that “I personally would not be disappointed, because I assume that she would then go back to being a government spokesperson, and we would be able to enjoy the added value that she represents as a woman as a spokesperson on the weekly government briefings.”
All film awards are political
“I consider these awards to be political awards, not awards for aesthetics or works of art, of course they are packaged as such,” he said regarding Flóra Anna Buda winning the award for the best short film in Cannes. “All awards are like that, yes,” he declared.
Regarding the Vajna era, he says that, in his opinion, few historical films have been made, “I am obsessed with processing Hungarian history, and what did not happen during the Vajna era hurts me.” Regarding the fact that creators who otherwise criticize the government also receive state subsidies for films, Rákay said that “it’s almost safe to say”.
As a voter, he expects from the government what he represents in world politics, cultural support should not go once morest that. “What does it look like when someone uses state money to work once morest exactly what a government is fighting for on the stage of world politics.
Not only does it not bother me, I would do it much more rudely, I’ll just say it quietly.
So everyone should be happy as long as it lasts, thank God, and I am happy to say this in advance that I have never had any political ambitions of any kind, but I am sure that I would be much tougher in this regard.”
According to Rákay, “if you look at who received film support in the last 34 years or even in the last 14 years during the time of the Orbán government, or what kind of films were made, the ratio is still far from me.”
