There is little doubt who Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will be rooting for in November's presidential election.
In an interview with French news magazine Le Point earlier this week, the Hungarian leader outlined his view that only Donald Trump can bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, which will soon be entering its third year.
He explained:
Peace has a name, that of Donald Trump.
We should not forget that Trump was one of the most successful foreign policy presidents of the United States. Not a single war was started by him. And the Abraham Accords were the only serious chance to generate peace, balance and an acceptable form of life in the very difficult Middle East region.My personal conviction remains that if, in February 2022, the American president had been called Donald Trump, there would be no more war in Europe. Today I don’t see anyone other than him, neither in Europe nor in America, who is a leader strong enough to stop the war.
During the interview, Orban also made the case that Trump would be beneficial for the European continent as a whole because he advances the idea of putting national sovereignty above globalism:
Let’s go back to 2016, during his first campaign, before the election. At the time, everyone said that the election was won for Hillary Clinton and not for Donald Trump. I clearly said at that time that we needed Donald Trump in Europe.
Because when Trump says ‘Make America Great Again’ or ‘America First’, it legitimizes us to say ‘Make Europe Great Again’ and ‘Europe First’. Put Europe first, put France first, put Hungary first. This is the normal attitude in international politics, if we wish to find agreements based on the basis of national interest.
The European Union, in recent years, has increasingly moved in an imperialist direction, especially after the departure of the United Kingdom. It is less and less a community of sovereign states. More and more, no matter what treaty rights you have, no matter what reasonable arguments you put forward to them, they are trying to force you into something you don’t want.
Orban's comments about Ukraine come after he was eventually persuaded by fellow European leaders to approve an €50 billion aid package to help support the Ukranian war effort.
However, as noted by The Spectator, Orban did manage to win a number of concessions, including an assurance that none of the funds will come from money otherwise allocated to Hungary.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed that he would be able to end the conflict in 24 hours by getting Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy round the negotiating table.
“Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if I were in the White House, and what’s going on there is a horror show,” Trump was quoted as saying last year. "A deal has to be made, and a deal could negotiated by the right president. If you have a president that knows what he’s doing, you can negotiate a deal even right now – it would have been a lot easier early."