One bright spot When President Joe Biden defended his decision to remain in the race at his first post-debate press conference, it was on foreign policy that he showed his ability and coolness. But while Biden was speaking at the NATO summit on Thursday, Donald Trump was standing shoulder to shoulder with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago.
The split-screen scenario once again highlighted the vast gap between the two presidential candidates during a pivotal election year for American democracy.
Trump appeared to confirm the meeting, posting on Truth Social, “Thank you, Victor.” The message followed a series of posts mocking Biden’s “big guy” press conference.
This visit was not Orban’s first. Mar-a-Lago. Earlier this year, Trump invited the self-described “illiberal” prime minister to his private club, saying there was no leader “better, stronger, smarter” than Orban..
allFar-right anti-democratic iconOrban has ruled Hungary on an authoritarian platform for more than a decade. As my colleague David Cohn has reported, here are some of the things Orban has done as prime minister:
- Attacked the independence of the national courts
- State control over the press begins
- Ban on Gender Studies in Universities and Same-Sex Marriage
- Promoted anti-Semitic and racist ideology, including “replacement theory.”
- He said he wanted to turn Hungary into an ‘illiberal’ country, using Russia and Turkey as a blueprint.
Orban was the main speaker at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference, where he gave a step-by-step tutorial on how to undermine the country’s democracy.
Given Trump’s long history of praising other autocrats, including Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, his recent meeting with Orban only reinforces what we already know: if he is elected president in 2024, Trump and his allies will all seek to implement similar policies in the United States.
