Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán traveled to Florida on Friday to visit Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, in a meeting blasted by U.S. President Joe Biden.
The get-together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort came shortly after Orbán endorsed the former U.S. president’s bid to return to the White House this year. The meeting continued Trump’s embrace of autocratic leaders pushing back against democratic traditions.
The Hungarian leader has become an icon to some conservative populists for advocating “illiberal democracy,” including restrictions on immigration and LGBTQ+ rights.
The Trump campaign said late Friday that the two long-time allies discussed “a wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the United States, including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation.”
Biden said of Trump: “You know who he’s meeting with today down in Mar-a-Lago? Orbán of Hungary, who’s stated flatly that he doesn’t thinks democracy works, he’s looking for dictatorship.”
“I see a future where we defend democracy, not diminish it,” Biden added, during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on Friday.
Orbán posted images on his Instagram account of him meeting with Trump and the former president’s staff. Orbán reiterated his endorsement of Trump in a tweet.
“We need leaders in the world who are respected and can bring peace. He is one of them! Come back and bring us peace, Mr. President!” Orbán wrote.
“The greatest fight in international politics is between the globalists and those who believe in national sovereignty. I was happy to see … that we sovereignists have many friends in the U.S. as well,” he said.