PM Orbán invited by Donald Trump

In the first press comment on the phone conversation between President elect Trump and PM Viktor Orbán, a liberal commentator looks back at statements the Hungarian Prime Minister made praising the Republican nominee during the electoral campaign when Mr Trump was an underdog.

In an interview with Világgazdaság (published on the internet site of the business daily late on Thursday night), the Prime Minister said he had a telephone conversation with the President elect and was sure that “Hungary’s position has greatly improved” as a result of the US presidential election. Mr Trump invited him to pay a visit to Washington, whereupon Mr Orbán remarked that he hadn’t been there for a long time, as he was “a black sheep” there. Mr Trump said “so was he”. Explaining why he thought Mr Trump would make a better President than his predecessor, Mr Orbán said the new President was pragmatic and not limited by ideological considerations. Ideologies have so far hindered political relations between the two countries, while economic relations have been on the right track, Mr Orbán said.

On hvg.hu, András Mizsur remarks that Viktor Orbán was the first Prime Minister to side with Mr Trump when his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton was considered the most likely winner. He quotes from a speech made by Mr Orbán in July in which he praised the Republican nominee for opting for pragmatism and stability instead of “exporting democracy” (See BudaPost, July 26). In a serious of sarcastic remarks, Mizsur enumerates foreign dignitaries who have been supported or visited by Mr Orbán and lost their jobs, including David Cameron, the former Prime Minister of Britain. He concludes that being supported by the Hungarian PM “doesn’t augur well” for Mr Trump.

Tags: Donald Trump, Orbán