Hungary’s Prime Minister Endorses Re-election President Trump
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News reporting from Budapest
(Worthy News) – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has joined other populist leaders in Eastern Europe and the Balkans in endorsing the re-election of U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
Orbán expressed his enthusiasm for Trump during this week’s e inauguration of a Budapest statue of George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States.
He also awarded a state award to Trump’s outgoing ambassador to Hungary, David B. Cornstein.
Orbán praised President Bush’s support for a “free Hungary” during his historic visit to Budapest in 1989, the year that ended decades of Communist dictatorship here and across Eastern Europe.
The Bush statue is on Budapest’s Szabadság Tér (Freedom Square) near the U.S. embassy, giving shelter to persecuted Hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty for 15 years since 1956.
FRIEND IN WHITE HOUSE
Fast forward, Orbán made clear that Hungary had once again a friend in the White House under President Trump.
Orbán conveniently overlooked tensions between Washington and Budapest over his perceived autocratic style, for instance, towards media.
In 2017, Trump’s U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Hungary, David Kostelancik, condemned a government-backed blacklist of critical journalists, including a Worthy News reporter.
While Trump often calls the media part of “fake news,” the “United States unequivocally condemns any attempt to intimidate or silence journalists,” Kostelancik said at the time.
However, Orbán said bilateral relations have improved and suggested that Trump expressed less concern over rule-of-law issues than the previous administration. “It’s no wonder, therefore, that we are rooting for another victory for the president,” he stressed.
SUPREME COURT NOMINEE
“And from here, we also congratulate him on choosing Amy Coney Barrett [as justice to the U.S. Supreme Court]. It hasn’t happened for time immemorial that there has been such a strong majority of traditional American values on the Supreme Court,” Orbán said.
Orbán added: “I am convinced that President Trump has saved conservative America and become one of the greatest American presidents. We wish him, and ourselves, total success in his election.”
His remarks came just days after neighboring Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Jansa gave his backing to Trump’s re-election campaign.
“We respect the difficult, tragic personal life of [Trump’s Democratic challenger] Joe Biden and some of his political achievements years ago,” Jansa said.
He referred in his message on social networking site Twitter to several significant personal losses since Biden stepped into political life.
CRASH AND CANCER
In 2015, his eldest son, Beau Biden, died of cancer. More than four decades earlier, a car crash killed his wife and daughter. “But today, if elected, he (Biden) would be one of the weakest presidents in history. When a free world desperately needs a strong U.S. as never before. Go, win, Donald Trump,” Jansa added.
Slovenia is the birthplace of U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Also on Friday, the Serb member of Bosnia’s three-member presidency, Milorad Dodik, urged Serbs living in the U.S. to vote for Trump. “Serbs will certainly not vote for Biden — he’s simply a Serb hater,” Dodik said.
Earlier Serbian populist President Aleksandar Vucic endorsed Trump’s election while visiting him at the White House.
Serbia and Kosovo even consider following the U.S. example and moving their embassies to Jerusalem.
Right-wing conservatives in the region like Orban, Vucic, and Jansa have sometimes adopted Trump’s rhetoric and leadership style, critics say.
Trump faces Biden in the November presidential election as he seeks another four-year term in what could be a tight race.
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