Other than Donald Trump himself, Viktor Orbán is probably the favorite leader of the American Right: an idol of CPAC, the Heritage Foundation, etc. Many have made political pilgrimages to Budapest, and Orbán has basked in applause on our shores.
Campaigning in New Hampshire this year, Trump said, “There’s a great man, a great leader, in Europe, Viktor Orbán. He’s the prime minister of Hungary. He’s a very great leader, very strong man. Some people don’t like him because he’s too strong. It’s nice to have a strong man running your country.”
Or should that be written “strongman”?
In any case, “strong” is an interesting word. Writing in 2018, Arch Puddington said, “Hungary has become a model for the dismantling of a European democracy by a democratically elected government.” (This is the kind of thing Hugo Chávez did in Venezuela.)
Also in 2018, Patrick J. Buchanan wrote, “The democracy worshippers of the West cannot compete with the authoritarians in meeting the crisis of our time because they do not see what is happening to the West as a crisis.” Hungarians, he further said, “have used democratic means to elect autocratic men who will put the Hungarian nation first.”
He is a blunt fellow, PJB — not a perfumer or a pussy-footer-around.
According to reports, Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán are meeting today: meeting at Trump’s home in Florida. Orbán has issued a rousing endorsement of Trump for reelection. That is an unusual thing for a foreign leader to do. But this is an unusual time.
“It’s like we’re twins,” Trump once said to Orbán. This was in 2019, when they met in the White House. The remark was reported by David Cornstein, a longtime associate of Trump’s, who was the U.S. ambassador to Hungary during Trump’s term.
Cornstein also said something of considerable interest: “I can tell you, knowing the president for a good 25 or 30 years, that he would love to have the situation that Viktor Orbán has, but he doesn’t.”
Candid (and therefore to be appreciated).
Obviously, Viktor Orbán has warm relations with Vladimir Putin. He is probably Putin’s closest ally in Europe, if you don’t count Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator. But Orbán has warm relations with China and Iran, too. More on that in a moment.
In 2017, Orbán said, “We all sense — it’s in the air — that the world is in the process of a substantial realignment.” This was when Putin was making a visit to Budapest. For his part, Putin hailed Hungary as an “important and reliable partner for Russia in Europe.”
That it has been. While other European nations have weaned themselves off Russian oil and gas, for example, Hungary has strengthened its energy ties with the Kremlin.
On the day of Alexei Navalny’s funeral, Orbán’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, was meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, laughing it up. Pictures of the scene were grotesque, to some of us.
In November 2021, Szijjártó received the Kremlin’s Order of Friendship. This was when Putin was massing troops on the Ukrainian border, preparing for the all-out assault. Szijjártó received the honor from the hands of Putin himself.
Two weeks ago, Szijjártó was in Tehran, inking a trade deal with the Iranian regime. This regime is a pariah to many, for its sponsorship of Hamas, its vows to destroy Israel, and so on and so forth. It is no such thing to the Hungarian government.
About China, there is much to say. Here is a report from Reuters, dated February 20. It begins, “China offered to support long-time strategic partner Hungary on public security issues, going beyond trade and investment relations.” It further says, “China hopes to deepen law enforcement and security ties with Hungary as the two mark their 75th year of diplomatic relations.”
Ties between Budapest and Beijing, commercial and otherwise, are extensive.
Putin has many allies in his war to destroy and re-subjugate Ukraine: China and Iran among them. (Others include North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba.) Russia is using Iranian weapons to attack Ukrainians. The Ukrainians need allies as well.
About Viktor Orbán and us, so to speak, there is a great deal more to say. Do you know about the case of the Lyubishins, father and son? Vladimir Sr. and Vladimir Jr.? I wrote about it here. (The case didn’t get much play in the Republican media.) The Lyubishins are Russian arms dealers. We, the United States, asked for their extradition. Instead, Orbán sent them back to Putin.
I would remind Orbán’s fans in America of a slogan: “America First.”
For now, the heart of the American Right belongs to Trump, Orbán, and their ilk. In 2018, Orbán famously declared, “The era of liberal democracy is over.” But it is a powerful thing, liberal democracy: and the heart of the American project. Waiting and available to be re-embraced, when the weather changes.