https://www.jns.org/sebastian-gorkas-welcome-return-to-the-white-house/
As soon as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced the nomination of Sebastian Gorka to the post of senior director for counter-terrorism in his new administration, the anti-“Make America Great Again” crowd dusted off an old smear campaign against the former West Wing staffer.
One enduring attack centers on his association with Vitézi Rend, a Hungarian merit organization established in 1920. Critics have sought to tie the group to Hungary’s fascist Arrow Cross regime, despite the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry recognizing its modern incarnation.
Gorka has explained that his wearing of the Vitézi Rend medal at Trump’s inauguration in 2017 was a tribute to his father, Paul Gorka, a Hungarian resistance fighter against both fascist and communist regimes.
This controversy underscores the deeper ideological rift between Gorka—a naturalized American, born and raised in Britain, where his parents had fled to escape Communist Hungary—and his detractors. His robust defense of American and Israeli policies has made him a favorite target of those who oppose his unapologetic patriotism and harsh attitude toward Islamization.
