Birds of a feather fly together!
Like attracts like.
Two peas in a pod.
Of the same stripe.
A man is known by the company he keeps.
Or whatever cliché you want to use for Trump’s close ally, Viktor Orbán.
Orbán is one of the Trump administration’s top allies in Europe, but he’s lagging in the polls ahead of Hungary’s national election next week.
Politico
By Gregory Svirnovskiy
04/07/2026
President Donald Trump took a call from Vice President JD Vance to voice support for Viktor Orbán during a rally alongside the Hungarian leader in Budapest on Tuesday, as the White House looks to boost the beleaguered prime minister ahead of what could be a bruising April 12 national election for his ruling Fidesz party.
Trump’s phone call came just hours after the president threatened the death of an entire civilization if Iran misses his 8 p.m. deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“He does a job, remember this, he didn’t allow people to storm your country and invade your country like other people have, and ruin their countries frankly,” Trump said of Orban. “He’s kept your country good, he’s kept Hungarian people in your country. And he’s done a fantastic job.”
Orban is one of the Trump administration’s top allies in Europe, and the president has routinely praised his anti-immigration stance while slamming leadership in the United Kingdom, France and Germany as “weak.” Vance’s visit to the Hungarian prime minister follows a February meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Orban, during which Rubio announced a “Golden Age” in relations between Washington and Budapest.
Who is Viktor Orbán? The Guardian wrote this about him last year,
Trump has moved to gut the federal government, fire critics and reward allies – a path similar to ‘would-be dictators’ like Orbán, experts say
David Smith
Fri 7 Feb 2025
A pitiless crackdown on on illegal immigration. A hardline approach to law and order. A purge of “gender ideology” and “wokeness” from the nation’s schools. Erosions of academic freedom, judicial independence and the free press. An alliance with Christian nationalism. An assault on democratic institutions.
The “electoral autocracy” that is Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has been long revered by Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” (Maga) movement. Now admiration is turning into emulation. In the early weeks of Trump’s second term as US president, analysts say, there are alarming signs that the Orbánisation of America has begun.
With the tech billionaire Elon Musk at his side, Trump has moved with astonishing velocity to fire critics, punish media, reward allies, gut the federal government, exploit presidential immunity and test the limits of his authority. Many of their actions have been unconstitutional and illegal. With Congress impotent, only the federal courts have slowed them down.
“They are copying the path taken by other would-be dictators like Viktor Orbán,” said Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut. “You have a move towards state-controlled media. You have a judiciary and law enforcement that seems poised to prioritise the prosecution of political opponents. You have the executive seizure of spending power so the leader and only the leader gets to dictate who gets money.”
And this is the person Trump envies, you want to know where Trump is getting his ideas from, his pal Orban.
Orbán’s fans in the US include Vice-President JD Vance, the media personality Tucker Carlson and Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation thinktank, who once said: “Modern Hungary is not just a model for conservative statecraft but the model.” The Heritage Foundation produced Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for Trump’s second term.
Orbán has addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference and two months ago travelled to the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for talks with both Trump and Musk. He has claimed that “we have entered the policy writing system of President Donald Trump’s team” and “have deep involvement there”.
They worship this fascist authoritarian would-be dictator! In an opinion piece in
The Washington Post...
The Trump administration is extremely invested in the outcome of the April 12 Hungarian election. Vice President JD Vance travels to Budapest this week for a series of events with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the same trip, touting the “golden age” of U.S.-Hungarian relations. Late last month, President Donald Trump gushed on Truth Social that Orban is “a truly strong and powerful Leader, with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results.”
It’s almost as if Trump and Orbán were cut from the same cloth.
Back in 2020 the Human Rights Watch wrote,
Update 28 May 2020 – Since this piece was originally written, sadly, Section 33 has passed into Hungarian Law. As it contravenes fundamental human rights, Amnesty International is calling on the Hungarian Human Commissioner for Fundamental Rights to stop this by rejecting the validity of this legislation. Join us in taking action
According to international and regional human rights standards, transgender people should be able to obtain legal gender recognition through quick, accessible and transparent procedures and in accordance with their own perceptions of gender identity. States must ensure that transgender people can obtain documents reflecting their gender identity without being required to satisfy criteria that in themselves violate their human rights.
Instead of complying with their human rights obligations, the Hungarian government is moving in the opposite direction, as they put forward a new bill including an article – Section 33 – which would ban legal gender recognition in Hungary. This is happening while all efforts should focus on protecting and guaranteeing the right to health for everyone without discrimination and taking urgent measures necessary to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hmm.... where are we seeing that now?
Do you now see why I questioned Vance's trip?
