Former President Donald Trump met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday, an unconventional move since Orban did not meet with President Joe Biden during the trip.
Trump’s presidential campaign claimed the pair met to discuss a “wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the United States, including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation.”
“He’s a non-controversial figure because he says, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’ and that’s the end of it. Right?” Trump said of the Hungarian prime minister in a video on Instagram. “He’s the boss.”
Orban, who has been prime minister since 2010, also met with former First Lady Melania Trump on Friday, and attended a meeting at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday.
President Joe Biden attacked the meeting with Trump while on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, and criticized Orban as undemocratic.
“You know who he’s meeting with today and — down in Mar-a-Lago? Orban of Hungary, who stated flatly he doesn’t think democracy works,” Biden said. “I see a future where we defend democracy, not diminish it.”
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Orban has faced backlash over his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his resistance on sending aid to Ukraine and expanding NATO, and even faces allegations of trying to weaken the judiciary system in Hungary. Orban has also been accused of touting anti-immigration policy, and rejecting “woke” ideology.
The Hungarian leader has often been likened to Trump, and he’s become a popular figure on the right. Orban has even spoken at previous Conservative Political Action Conferences, and will host an overseas edition of the CPAC conference next month.
