"During the US presidential election campaign of 2016, Viktor Orban was the only European Union leader to back Donald Trump. Which was hardly surprising. Whether in relation to the the normalisation of great replacement theory, or the bullying and harassment of the media, Mr Orban more or less wrote the playbook for the Maga movement. The former White House strategist Steve Bannon has eulogised Hungary's prime minister as the Trump before Trump."
"Last week, ahead of crucial Hungarian elections in less than six months' time, the US president returned some political favours. As Mr Orban seeks a fifth consecutive term presiding over a nation which he boasts of having turned into an illiberal democracy, his Fidesz party trails in the polls. As well as a few signed Maga baseball caps, an Orban visit to Washington yielded considerably more valuable pre-election gifts."
"The details of this arrangement are somewhat murky. But Mr Trump recently demonstrated his willingness to help out ideological allies when the US extended a $20bn emergency credit line to Argentina's far-right president, Javier Milei. Although Mr Orban failed to nail down a campaign-energising Trump visit to Budapest, it was still a profitable day's work in the Oval Office. In the corridors of the EU, Mr Trump's intervention will have further underlined the geopolitical stakes of the coming election."
Viktor Orban was the sole EU leader to back Donald Trump in 2016 and shaped tactics later adopted by the MAGA movement. Steve Bannon praised Orban as a precursor to Trump. Ahead of Hungary's next election, Trump offered Orban energy-import exemptions and a promised financial shield while Brussels withholds EU funds over rule-of-law breaches. The US precedent of a $20bn emergency credit line to Argentina's far-right president underscores that support. Orban failed to secure a Trump campaign visit to Budapest, yet the Washington meeting delivered tangible pre-election advantages and raised EU geopolitical concerns as centrist challenger Peter Magyar leads in polls.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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