Donald Trump has endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán amid the most serious challenge to the anti-LGBTQ+ leader’s power in a decade.
The former U.S. president offered his “complete support” for Orbán in a Jan. 3 statement ahead of Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary elections, in which the incumbent faces off against a united six-party opposition bloc. Elected in 2010, Orbán has witnessed his one-time popularity wane amid his perceived mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, locking him in a dead heat with opposition candidate Péter Márki-Zay.
With one of his most significant allies facing the potential end of his 10-year reign, Trump proclaimed that Orbán “truly loves his country and wants safety for his people.
“He has done a powerful and wonderful job in protecting Hungary, stopping illegal immigration, creating jobs, trade and should be allowed to continue to do so in the upcoming election,” Trump said in a brief press release cited by the New York Times. “He is a strong leader and respected by all.”
While the Washington Post termed the endorsement “unusual,” Trump and Orbán have a storied alliance that dates back to the earliest days of the former’s candidacy. Orbán was the first European leader to support Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, and Trump returned the favour by inviting Orbán to the White House in 2019, making him the first U.S. president to host Orbán in 21 years.
During that meeting, Trump lauded the audience with Orbán as a “great honour,” while highlighting the similarities between the two figures.
“Viktor Orbán has done a tremendous job in so many ways,” he said in comments reported at the time by ABC News. “Highly respected. Respected all over Europe. Probably like me a little bit controversial, but that’s okay. That’s okay. You’ve done a good job and you’ve kept your country safe.”
Orbán has been held up not merely as a parallel to Trump but as an aspirational figure by the American far right following his years-long crackdowns on democratic freedoms and LGBTQ+ equality. Back in 2018, former White House advisor Steve Bannon called Orbán “the most significant guy on the scene right now.” Fox News host Tucker Carlson broadcast his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, from Budapest for a week last year, during which time he claimed that the country has “a lot of lessons for the rest of us.”
The timing of Carlson’s rubber stamp was particularly significant, taking place in the wake of Hungary’s controversial “propaganda” bill being signed into law in June. Patterned after similar legislation enacted in Russia nine years ago, the bill bans minors from viewing materials that promote “homosexuality” or “gender change,” whether in classroom textbooks or films and TV programs.
The law’s passage has led to severe restrictions on LGBTQ+ content in Hungary, with observers noting that shows like Friends and Modern Family, both of which include queer characters, would be banned from airing during primetime. Films that depict LGBTQ+ subject matter will be restricted to viewers over the age of 18.
Hungary’s “propaganda” ban has led to significant backlash, however, with the European Union initiating legal action against Orbán’s regime over the law. Hungarian leaders, however, have refused to back down: in November, the National Assembly approved a plan to put the issue to voters in a national referendum tied to the parliamentary elections. (The elections have yet to be scheduled but are expected to be held in either April or May.)
The referendum is a likely attempt to win votes for Orbán given the often hostile climate toward LGBTQ+ equality in Hungary. The scheme may not work, though: a 2017 poll from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) found that 64 percent of Hungarians felt queer people should have the same rights as others, while 69 percent supported laws banning workplace discrimination.
Márki-Zay, Orbán’s opponent in the parliamentary elections, has vowed to repeal the “propaganda” ban if elected. It’s unclear if Márki-Zay, a self-described conservative Catholic, will also overturn laws passed in recent years banning same-sex couples from adopting and barring trans people from correcting their gender on legal documents.
Orbán is not the only anti-LGBTQ+ authoritarian facing a tough re-election to be endorsed by Trump: incumbent Jair Bolsonaro trails his progressive opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, by nearly 30 points in the Brazilian presidential race, according to pollsters. Bolsonaro, sometimes described as the “Trump of the tropics,” famously claimed he would rather his son be dead than come out as gay.
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