Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán Joins Twitter, Asks ‘Where Is My Good Friend Donald Trump?’

trump orban
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Kurt Zindulka

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán launched an official account on Twitter on Monday, and said that following his first day on the platform, the question on his mind was “where is my good friend [Donald Trump]?”

The populist conservative leader has previously focussed his social media output on Facebook, where he has amassed over 1.2 million followers. On Monday, Orbán’s office announced that he had opened up an account on Twitter, with his first post on the social media platform declaring “let’s make some noise”.

On Tuesday morning, Mr Orbán wrote: “After my first day on Twitter, there’s one question on my mind. Where is my good friend, @realDonaldTrump?” using the former American president’s handle prior to his banishment from the major Silicon Valley social media companies last year.

The Hungarian leader, who was re-elected to a fourth consecutive term in April making him the longest serving national leader in the EU, has been a longstanding supporter of Mr Trump, saying in 2016 that his election to the presidency would mark the end of “liberal non-democracy” and an opportunity for the West to free itself from the political correctness that had prevented common sense governance.

The affection was reciprocated from Trump, who went so far as to jokingly describe Orbán as his “twin brother” during a meeting in the White House in 2019.

Speaking before reporters alongside the Hungarian PM, Trump said that Orbán is “probably like me a little bit controversial, but that’s OK. That’s OK. You’ve done a good job. And you’ve kept your country safe.”

Unlike the majority of leaders in the European Union, Orbán has rejected the push towards globalisation and multiculturalism, emphasising instead national identity and the nation’s Christian heritage. The Hungarian leader has also been a major force against mass migration, choosing to focus governmental efforts on supporting families rather than turning to foreign populations to mitigate the Western demographic collapse.

While he has represented a lone voice in Europe on such issues, with the notable exception of Poland, there has been a growing populist pushback in Europe against the EU establishment in Brussels, with the right-wing Sweden Democrats making significant gains in last month’s elections and Brothers of Italy leader Georgia Meloni set to become prime minister of the EU’s third largest nation.

Speaking to Breitbart News earlier this month, Donald Trump said that the conservative victories in Europe represented a “great movement”.

“The whole thing is a great movement that’s taken place and now it’s happening all over the world,” Trump said. “It’s a very simple movement: Give us borders, give us safe streets, we don’t want crime, give us good education, give us dignity and give us respect as a nation. It’s not complicated.”

It remains to be seen if there will be a Twitter reunion for Orbán and Trump. While the acquisition of the Big Tech giant by Tesla CEO Elon Musk perhaps paving the way for Trump to return to the platform, the American president has previously said that he would prefer to focus on his own social media company, Truth Social, and branding Musk as a “bullshit artist“.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.