As Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz Party took in a landslide re-election in parliamentary elections Sunday, press reports worldwide made comparisons between President Trump and the equally controversial Orban.
Trump is considered extremely popular in Hungary, and he is soon expected to formally invite his Hungarian counterpart to the United States for a visit.
During a January trip to Washington, D.C., Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto explained to Newsmax the strong admiration Orban and his government have for the U.S. president.
“In many aspects we have a similar approach,” Szijjarto told me. “It was ridiculous how frustrated the European Union was when President Trump started to say ‘America First.’ With him saying that, he gave back the right to the countries to think about their national interest as a national issue.”
This, according to Szijjarto, “was very important for us. To Hungarians, who are very patriotic, such a kind of approach is very sympathetic. So we cross our fingers here for Donald Trump to be very successful.
“We see there are ‘big powers’ going after him, and hoping to kill him politically. We hope he is going to survive, that he will be strong, and make America great again.”
Noting that the U.S. is second-largest investor [after Germany] in Hungary and “the No. 1 export market of ours outside the EU,” the foreign minister underscored that “the cooperation is extremely important.”
Szijjarto also pointed out that “we have been fighting with the U.S. against terror. We have 200 troops in Iraq fighting against ISIS. We are a committed member of NATO. We completely understand when President Trump speaks of the necessity of Europeans to take control of their own security. We absolutely agree with that.”
He also emphasized that “we have a very similar approach on migration. We see we have a very similar approach on supporting families and considering the security of families as No 1.”
“And President Trump’s approach is liberating from stupid dogma,” Szijjarto said. “For example, before his election, if people spoke about their national interest, they were immediately labeled ‘nationalist.’ ‘You are fascist.’ ‘You are dangerous.’ ‘You are dictatorial.’
“President Trump is brave enough to speak of national interest and the priority of national interest. That’s pretty liberating to the kind of government like ours which wants to represent national interest as a No. 1 interest.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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