Trump's Mentor

Ever wonder who Trump is copying? Well it could very well be Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Budapest Pride draws huge crowds in defiance of Orban legal threats

BBC News

By Nick Thorpe

June 29, 2025

Tens of thousands have gathered for the Budapest Pride march, defying Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's legal threats against LGBTQ rights activists.

Organisers estimated that a record 200,000 people may have taken part despite mounting pressure from nationalist conservative politicians and police to stop any display of pro-LGBTQ material.

The police issued a ban in line with a new "child protection" law restricting gatherings considered to be promoting homosexuality.

Orban downplayed the possibility of violent clashes between police and participants, but warned of potential legal repercussions for attendees.

All strong arm men use us for their boogeyman! 

Luca, 34, who is planning to attend with her mother Enikö, said they want a country of "diversity" which she said they don't currently have.

"We have a law that bans people who are different from others to gather. This is why we are here. Because it's hurting our rights. That's why we came."

She told the BBC she is worried about her four-year-old daughter's future living "in a country where she can't love anyone she wants to".

Barnabás said he was attending to "express my solidarity with the LGBTQ community... because I know what it feels like not being seen and to be treated like an outcast, which obviously everyone here is not".

Not part of the community himself, the 22-year-old said he comes from the countryside, where people "are more likely to be xenophobic and homophobic".

Dictators around the world find us easy pickings. NPR News writes,

The march began at Budapest City hall and wound through the city center before crossing the capital's Erzsébet Bridge over the Danube River. Police diverted the crowd from its planned route to keep it separated from a small group of far-right counterprotesters, while members of Hungary's LGBTQ+ community and large numbers of supporters danced to music and waved rainbow and anti-government flags.

The massive size of the march, which the government for months had insisted would no longer be permitted in Hungary, was seen as a major blow to Orbán's prestige, as the European Union's longest-serving leader's popularity slumps in the polls where a new opposition force has taken the lead.

Does this sound familiar?

Some participants said that the march wasn't only about defending the fundamental rights of sexual minorities, but also addressed what they see as an accelerating crackdown on democratic processes under Orbán's rule.

Donald Trump idols are Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and, Nicolás Maduro, they do seem to represent traits and leadership styles he respects, even if their ideologies or policies differ from his.

In October 2007, Trump praised Putin on Larry King Live:

“Look at Putin … he’s doing a great job in rebuilding the image of Russia and also rebuilding Russia period.”

In January 2022, Trump endorsed Orbán’s reelection:

“truly loves his Country and wants safety for his people,” praising his hard‑line immigration stance 

At a 2018 rally in West Virginia, Trump said about the North Korean dictator:

“He wrote me beautiful letters…We fell in love.”