After a meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Orban said in a video message on Facebook on Saturday night: “We Hungarians only have one thing to do, which is to honestly admit: the world would be better and for Hungary It would be better if President Donald Trump returned (to power).”
During Trump’s term in office, there was peace in the Middle East and Ukraine, and these wars would not exist today if Trump were US President, Orban continued. Trump “offered respect in the world and thereby created the conditions for peace.” He also expects that Trump’s return to the White House will lead to a revival of bilateral trade relations.
Orban’s words in the Facebook post were accompanied by silent video images of his meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. After the conversation, the two wanted to have dinner together and then listen to a concert, said Orban’s spokesman Bertalan Havasi, according to the Hungarian news agency MTI. Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was also there. Before meeting Trump, Orban also made an appearance at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington and a meeting with Trump’s former advisor, the ultra-right publicist Steve Bannon.
Regular public eulogies
Trump and Orban regularly give public eulogies about each other. Orban was the only head of government of an EU country who openly supported the Republican before Trump’s election as president in 2016. The two right-wing populists have a lot in common politically. Trump’s former chief adviser Bannon once described the Hungarian as “Trump before Trump.” Orban has been ruling Hungary since 2010. Trump, on the other hand, has a soft spot for autocrats. He never made a secret of it.
Orban also maintains good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He only half-heartedly supports the West’s sanctions against Moscow because of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. He often waters down EU sanctions decisions with veto threats.
Trump is in the middle of the presidential election campaign and wants to challenge incumbent Joe Biden in November. The Democrat criticized Trump’s meeting with Orban. At a campaign appearance on Friday evening (local time) in the US state of Pennsylvania, Biden once again sharply attacked his likely opponent in the election and mocked the fact that Trump was meeting the head of government from Europe “who has openly stated that he does not believe that “Democracy works.”
