Trump to meet with Hungary leader Viktor Orban

Former President Donald Trump on Friday is scheduled to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Orbán has become an icon to some conservative populists for championing what he calls "illiberal democracy,” replete with restrictions on immigration.

But he’s also cracked down on the press and judiciary in his country and rejiggered the country’s political system to keep his party in power while maintaining the closest relationship with Russia among all European Union countries.

In the U.S., Trump’s allies have embraced Orbán’s approach.

On Thursday, as foreign dignitaries milled through Washington, D.C., ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Orbán skipped the White House and instead spoke at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank overseeing the 2025 Project, the effort to create a governing blueprint for Trump’s next term.

"Supporting families, fighting illegal migration and standing up for the sovereignty of our nations. This is the common ground for cooperation between the conservative forces of Europe and the U.S.,” Orbán wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after his Heritage appearance.

He then flew to Florida where he was scheduled to meet Trump late Friday afternoon at the former president’s beachfront compound, Mar-a-Lago. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment on Orbán’s visit.

Orbán’s approach appeals to Trump’s brand of conservatives, who have abandoned their embrace of limited government and free markets for a system that sides with their own ideology, said Dalibor Rohac, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

"They want to use the tools of government to reward their friends and punish their opponents, which is what Orbán has done,” Rohac said.