In his bizarre speech at the Republican National Convention last week, Donald Trump strayed from his prepared text to share some thoughts about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “Hungary, strong country,” the Republican said. “Run by a very powerful, tough leader. He’s a tough guy. The press doesn’t like him because he’s tough.”
In reality, of course, it’s not just “the press” who has concerns with Orbán — and “tough” seemed like a ridiculous adjective given the circumstances.
As my MSNBC colleague Zeeshan Aleem has explained, the Hungarian strongman has taken a series of steps in recent years to undermine democratic institutions, “through measures like consolidation of hundreds of media outlets under the control of political allies, gaming elections and using emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic to dramatically expand executive power.”
Vox published a related report in 2018 on “how democracy died in Hungary.” It noted a vote from the European Parliament, which labelled Orbán’s government a “systemic threat to the rule of law.”
Closer to home, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said just a couple of weeks ago that Orbán is also “completely in bed with the Chinese and the Russians.”
And yet, Trump can’t seem to shake his affection for the Hungarian leader, which leads to a related question: Does the former president admire Orbán despite the apparent fact that he’s “completely in bed with the Chinese and the Russians” or because of it?
The question returned to the fore over the weekend, when Trump spoke in Michigan and reiterated his praise for foreign autocrats. As a Newsweek report noted:
Trump doubled down on his praise for leaders that the Biden administration and other U.S. officials have condemned as dictators. He spoke positively about Chinese President Xi Jinping, describing him as a “brilliant man” who controls 1.4 billion people with an “iron fist.” … Acknowledging the scrutiny his praise of Xi often draws in the press, Trump remained undeterred, even expanding on his comments. He went further by describing both Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “smart” and “tough.”
Trump clearly wasn’t kidding.
By popular request, here's Trump's full riff from yesterday's rally in Michigan on President Xi being "brilliant" because he "controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist" & why he thinks authoritarians more broadly are "smart" & provide the type of leadership we need in the US pic.twitter.com/s2rsNOe4Pq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2024
“Orbán was right,” Trump continued. “We have to have somebody that can protect us.”
When the political world looks at the Republican as a candidate who’s hostile toward democracy, part of the focus is on his failed White House term, when he was routinely indifferent to legal limits and constitutional boundaries, culminating in an effort to claim illegitimate power after an election defeat.








