Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán heaped praise on one another during a meeting on Friday evening at the former U.S. president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
In an interview with Hungarian broadcaster M1, Orbán explained he had visited the Republican presidential candidate to restore the deteriorating U.S.-Hungarian relations under the Biden administration.
“Given the fact that U.S.-Hungarian relations in the political world today are particularly bad, even though we are allies, I have tried to mend this relationship. So I went to America to restore the Hungarian-American political friendship,” Orbán stressed, adding that this is not possible under the current U.S. government.
“There is a reason for this: it is a pro-war government in Washington. The Democrats are committed to the war and we are a pro-peace government, so we are not on the same wavelength,” Orbán said, adding, unlike the current government in Washington, “President Trump was a president of peace.”
The Hungarian leader said that in the case of Donald Trump, “During his first term, he ended wars. He was the first president in a long time not to start a war during his term. So we know from him, from his presidency, that he is a man of peace.
“And he is not hiding his views now, he has made it clear that he aims to bring peace to the Russian-Ukrainian war,” Orbán said. “We want nothing less than peace, a ceasefire as soon as possible. We want an end as soon as possible to this war, which is slowly drawing to a close. I don’t see anyone else with the determination and strength to do that than Donald Trump.”
Orbán also noted that although Americans are generally not familiar with the details of European culture and history, they understand that Hungary is a neighboring country to Ukraine that doesn’t want an ongoing conflict in its own backyard.
“So they know that we have to be interested in peace, even if only in our own natural national interests, and that is why they can count on us to help them make peace,” he pointed out.
As he said, “Donald Trump has “quite detailed plans” on how to end this war. His plans coincide with Hungary’s interests.”
Meanwhile, the former U.S. president called the visit by Orbán an “honor.”
“There’s nobody better, smarter, or a better leader than Viktor Orbán. He’s fantastic,” Trump told a crowd who turned out for a concert at the Florida resort.
“He’s a noncontroversial figure because he said, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’ and that’s the end of it, right? He’s the boss and … he’s a great leader, fantastic leader. In Europe and around the world, they respect him,” Trump added.
