Former US President Donald Trump, who wants to run again for president in 2024, apparently confused Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a speech in New Hampshire.
“There is this man, Viktor Orban, have you ever heard of him?” Trump asked the audience at yesterday’s event, only to give himself the wrong answer: “He is (…) one of the strongest leaders in the world. He is the head of Türkiye.”
That’s not all the confusion: Orbán has a “front” with Russia, Trump said. What he meant by this is unclear: neither Turkey nor Hungary border Russia.
Good relationship in the past
Orbán and Trump have praised each other in the past. There are several ongoing investigations against Trump in the USA. The Hungarian prime minister encouraged him to “keep fighting” in a tweet in the spring.
Trump welcomed Orban to the White House in 2019 during his presidency. Orbán has led the Hungarian government as prime minister since 2010. During this period, he and his confidants have undermined the rule of law and aligned the country’s public and private media outlets. Orban himself has described his style of government as “illiberal democracy”.