Donald Trump meets with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, sparking controversy

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and former US President Donald Trump during their meeting in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, United States, on March 8, 2024 (Donald Trump Press Service)

Former President Donald Trump met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday, continuing his embrace of autocratic world leaders as he seeks reelection to the U.S. presidency.

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Orban’s trip to the United States also included a stop in Washington, where he gave a speech at the Heritage Foundation, which has close ties to Trump. The appearance took place on Thursday, the same day as President Biden’s State of the Union address, which was held at the Capitol, a few blocks from the headquarters of the conservative think tank.

It was an extraordinary event: a foreign leader visiting the United States and stopping in the country’s capital without meeting with the sitting president and, instead, with his political rival.

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Trump has repeatedly praised Orban over the years, frequently praising what he sees as strength in leadership during the election campaign. He also hosted Orban at the White House in 2019, an invitation that the previous two US presidents had purposely not extended.

Orban has worked to undermine Hungary’s key democratic institutions since coming to power in 2010. A self-proclaimed advocate of an “illiberal” Christian democracy, he has advocated for restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights and immigration, while cracking down against the judiciary and the country’s press. He has also garnered praise from conservative populists and America’s conservative establishment, reinterpreting Trump’s long-standing slogan and frequently saying “Make Europe Great Again” in public statements.

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After appearing at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Orban wrote in “Support families, fight illegal immigration and defend the sovereignty of our nations,” he said.

The Hungarian leader then traveled from Washington to Palm Beach, Florida, to see Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, in a meeting on Friday that displayed some of the symbolism typically reserved for two sitting world leaders.

The two leaders formally greeted each other at the entrance of the estate, posing on a red carpet flanked by American and Hungarian flags.

Inside, with their parties facing each other at long conference tables, the two men held meetings to discuss “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 every nation,” according to the Trump campaign. In the evening there was a concert inside the venue, in which Trump took the stage to praise Orban.

“There is no one who is better, smarter or better leader than Viktor Orban,” Trump said Friday night. The former president, in an apparent nod to the Hungarian leader’s autocratic approach, went on to say that Orban is “an uncontroversial figure because he says, ‘This is how it’s going to be,’ and that’s it.” Is he already there? He is the boss. No, he is a great leader.”

Orban lent his support to Trump on the X, saying the world needs “leaders in the world who are respected and can bring peace. He is one of them. He come back and bring us peace, Mr. President.”

President Biden criticized the Trump-Orban meeting on Friday, saying it demonstrated the authoritarian tendencies of his main rival.

“Do you know who Trump met at Mar-a-Lago today? With Orban of Hungary, who flatly stated that he does not believe democracy works,” Biden said at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. “He’s looking for a dictatorship… that’s who he’s meeting with. “I see a future in which we defend democracy, not diminish it.”

The president’s remarks came a day after hosting Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at the State of the Union address marking Sweden’s entry into the NATO alliance. Orban had initially opposed Sweden joining the alliance, as well as European Union aid to Ukraine amid its war with Russia. He has also maintained close ties with the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite continued tensions between Russia and the West as a result of the war.

(c) 2024 , The Washington Post

2024-03-09 23:10:49
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