Hungary’s Orbán Shuns White House to Meet Ex-President Trump
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary’s controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was to meet former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who he views as a close ally in his battle against Western criticism over his perceived authoritarian style.
Their talks come after Orbán endorsed Trump’s run for president, saying that only his return to the White House could improve U.S.-Hungary relations and bring peace in wartorn Ukraine.
Orbán has refused to send weapons to Ukraine and kept up close economic ties with Russia since the Russian invasion in 2022, saying only peace talks will end the armed conflict.
“It is not gambling but actually betting on the only sensible chance that we in Hungary bet on the return of President Trump,” Orbán said this week. “The only chance of the world for a relatively fast peace deal is political change in the United States, and this is linked to who is the president.”
The Orban-Trump meeting happens while Europe prepares for critical elections this year that polls suggest could see a rise in conservative and rightist parties in the European Parliament
The longtime Hungarian prime minister, who faced criticism from the U.S. government and the European Union over his perceived democratic backsliding and his friendly relationship with the Kremlin, arrives without an invitation from the White House.
Commentators called it an almost unheard-of move for the leader of a NATO military alliance member state.
PRAISING ORBAN
Yet Trump has praised Orbán for his call for an end to the war in Ukraine and his harsh anti-migration policies, including building a massive fence along the border with Serbia.
He also appreciates Orbán’s support for traditional families and persecuted “Christian communities.”
While not meeting the Biden administration, Orbán attended a panel with the head of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank before speaking with Trump in Florida on Friday.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, has promoted “illiberal democracy,” which the U.S. State Department views as an autocratic system in Hungary.
He also faced allegations that he rolled back minority rights, seized control of the judiciary and media, and manipulated the country’s election system to remain in power.
Additionally, billions of dollars in EU funding ended up in the hands of his allies and family members, according to several officials, including a U.S. diplomat talking to Worthy News.
Yet Orbán denies wrongdoing and says the allegations are linked to anger among liberals over his “pro-family” and “pro-Christian” policies, including setting up a secretariat for persecuted Christians.
‘ILLEGAL MIGRATION’
Additionally, he says, his government is punished for its strong policies towards “illegal migration” and its refusal to allow LGBTQ issues to be taught to minors.
Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez wondered: “Why is the Biden administration funding agitation against Hungary, a NATO ally with a pro-American population?”
Hungary, he wrote, “may sit strategically at the crossroads of Europe, but what irritates the liberals in the White House is that its government stands up for Western values.”
Some American conservative commentators agree.
They have championed Orbán for standing against the European Union on mass migration and vowing border security.
And in what some on the right celebrate as protecting family values, Orbán exempted women with four children from paying income tax for life in 2019.
They also praise his involvement in a new constitution that describes marriage as between “a man and a woman” and protects life “from the moment of conception.”
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
The new Hungarian constitution defines family as “based on marriage and the parent-child relation. The mother is a woman, the father a man.”
It also mandates that parents raise children in a conservative spirit.
“Hungary defends the right of children to identify with their birth gender and ensures their upbringing based on our nation’s constitutional identity and values based on our Christian culture,” it says.
Orbán and Trump have long been allies, and Trump regularly praises the right-wing populist politician in his campaign speeches as they hold similar views.
The two met in August 2022 at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club when Orbán traveled to the U.S. to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Texas.
CPAC, one of the leading conservative events, will hold its third conference in Hungary’s capital, Budapest, next month.
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