U.S. President Donald Trump is strongly committed to seeing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán succeed in the upcoming election, said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a joint appearance in Budapest on Monday. In this way, Rubio made a clear American statement in favor of the national conservative leader, who is under heavy pressure from the EU due to his opposition to mass immigration, his criticism of left-liberal agendas, and his support for peace negotiations instead of continued war in Ukraine.
Within the American right, Orbán is viewed by many as a model for Trump’s tough migration policy and his support for Christian conservatism. Rubio in particular highlighted his praise for Orbán’s political approach.
– President Trump is deeply invested in your success, because your success is our success, said Rubio, and continued:
– We want this country to do well. It is in our national interest, especially as long as you are the prime minister and leader of this country.
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Rubio, who is also Trump’s National Security Advisor, was on the second leg of a tour that began at the security conference in Munich and continued with two exclusive visits to the EU-critical and war-critical countries Slovakia and Hungary.
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The visits can likely be seen as a way for Trump to signal to other EU leaders that he supports their line, which often faces strong opposition from other member states and especially from Brussels, led by Ursula von der Leyen. Both Slovakia’s social democratic leader Robert Fico and Hungary’s national conservative leader Viktor Orbán have good relations with Trump.
ALSO READ: Fico to Zelenskyj: “I Am Not Your Servant”
While Orbán receives support from the Trump administration, he is facing his greatest challenge since the Fidesz party’s landslide victory in 2010, as Hungarians head to the polls on April 12. Since then, Orbán has won every election and his party has often held a constitutional supermajority in parliament, giving him significant leeway to implement his policies.
The April election will have significant consequences for Europe’s political landscape, and the EU’s loudest critics may fall silent if he loses. According to opinion polls, it is a close race—some polling institutes put Orbán at a disadvantage, while others give him a narrow lead.
Orbán has long been one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe and has often clashed with the EU leadership in Brussels on a range of issues, especially concerning mass immigration. He refuses to let his country be turned into ghettos, saying this has become a reality in several Western European countries. At the same time, Orbán has maintained good relations with Russia and criticized Ukraine over the ongoing war.
ALSO READ: Top Green Politician Alice Bah Kuhnke: Orbán Is a “Dictator” – Do We Want Hungary to Become Russia?
See the press conference here: