Donald Trump hosts Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago, praises Hungary PM as ‘fantastic leader’
Biden criticised the planned get-together directly at a political rally in Philadelphia earlier Friday, saying Orban “doesn’t think democracy works” and was “looking for dictatorship.”
Orban has in the past urged the West to cut off financing for Ukraine, which he has said is the quickest way to force Kyiv to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia.
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The Biden administration has criticised Orban over his friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he met last October in China, as well as legislation in Hungary that the State Department warned could “intimidate and punish” critics of Orban’s government.
Trump last month denounced the Biden administration’s request for billions in new funds for Ukraine, saying lawmakers should attach conditions to the help or structure the aid as a loan.
Friday’s meeting was expected to sow further concern across Europe, where leaders are already sounding the alarm over Ukraine’s ability to maintain its war effort without more US help and bracing for Trump’s possible return to power.
Trump has said he told a Nato ally during his presidency that he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to countries that did not meet the alliance’s defence spending obligations.
“We all want peace, but nobody decent would agree to the peace on the conditions set out by Moscow and Putin,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is expected to meet Biden at the White House on Tuesday, told reporters in Bucharest this week.
The former American president has praised Orban as a “strong leader.” The prime minister has cultivated a strongman image in Hungary and used his veto power to frustrate consensus efforts in the European Union.
The two men share a political narrative premised on a purported struggle against the established order and a disdain of the Biden administration, which has criticised the erosion of Hungarian democracy and Orban’s close ties to Beijing and Moscow.
For Orban, Friday’s meeting is a chance to shed his black-sheep image and position himself as a potential bridge between Europe and the US should Trump win the November election. While leaders from around Europe are renewing connections with Trump’s team, few have the direct line and air of camaraderie that Orban has with the former president.
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Orban’s government for years has cultivated ties with Trump allies. Hungary has hosted satellite Conservative Political Action Conferences, with another one planned for April, and cultivated right-wing influencers such as Tucker Carlson.
The Hungarian leader, known as a political risk-taker, was the first European premier to endorse Trump during his first presidential campaign. He has also called for Trump’s return in 2024 and dismissed court cases against the former president as a “witch-hunt,” which mirrors how Orban has cast EU probes of democratic backsliding in Hungary.
Trump’s return is a “precondition” for a “strong and quick peace on the European continent,” Orban told at a diplomatic forum in Turkey last week. “From a Hungarian point of view and the point of view of peace, the comeback of Trump is more than desirable.”