The promotion of Hungary and Viktor Orbán among American conservatives is often presented as a warning of conservative embrace of illiberal politics. While acknowledging the draw of Hungary’s illiberal policies as the motivating factor for American conservative interest in Hungary, our focus seeks to answer to what extent this embrace of Hungary can be considered a form of public diplomacy. We examined the frequency and substance of mentions of Hungary and Viktor Orbán in 1643 articles within 13 American conservative media outlets to track how the narrative around the country and the prime minister has evolved over the past four years, bearing in mind the impact of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Viktor Orbán in late 2021. We found both an increase in the quantity of articles focused on Hungary and Viktor Orbán as well as a largely positive trend defending and praising the policies of Hungary and the prime minister. We also observed a strong focus on Orbán as the primary actor of Hungarian public diplomacy and argue that this hyper-presidentialized focus exemplifies the deinstitutionalization of public diplomacy, along with other elements that contribute to the enhancement of Orbán as an individual public diplomacy actor.

Since the introduction of the term public diplomacy (PD), PD literature has evolved and expanded in different directions, multiplying the research conducted on PD actors, programs, publics, networks, tools, and purposes. Focusing our discussion on the purpose of public diplomacy, the potential mission-driven public diplomacy model called “The Golden Circle of Public Diplomacy” by Cabrera Cuadrado (J Public Diplomacy 2:2, 2022) is used to analyze the WHY of Spain’s public diplomacy, analyzing the grand strategy purpose of the European country since the Franco dictatorship until the present day. This analysis comprises the evolution of Spain’s purpose throughout the following phases: the Franco dictatorship, the arrival of democracy (or Transition), and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Interviews to key PD practitioners were conducted to complement the research. An outlook into the future of Spain’s public diplomacy grand strategy is also included.