President Trump welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the White Home in what has been billed as a consequential assembly for the 2 conservative leaders almost a 12 months into Trump’s second administration.
A lot of the go to centered round Orbán’s request that Trump present Hungary with an exemption to proceed importing Russian oil not topic to U.S. sanctions.
Trump additionally used the assembly to handle home points, together with his administration’s message on affordability and his requires Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster.
Listed here are 5 takeaways from Trump’s assembly with Orbán.
Trump, Orbán alternate pleasantries
The general public portion of the bilateral assembly doubled as a love-fest of kinds between Trump and Orbán, who’ve lengthy been seen as political allies on the worldwide stage.
Trump pointed to Orban and referred to as him a “great leader” earlier than he escorted him within the White Home. Orbán, who had essentially the most to realize from the assembly, repeatedly talked about what he stated was a “golden age” between the US and Hungary beneath the Trump administration.
“What we need is a golden age,” Orbán stated sitting subsequent to Trump. “To open a golden age of the United States-Hungary relationship.”
The Hungarian chief additionally took various jabs at former President Biden, a transfer that Trump possible appreciated.
Trump additionally appeared to defend Orbán from his European critics and people imposing prices on Budapest’s democratic rollbacks.
“He is a fantastic chief and he is revered throughout. Not essentially preferred by a number of the leaders, however these leaders are confirmed to be improper,” the president stated. In the event you take a look at Europe, they’ve made large errors on immigration. It is actually hurting them very badly. He has not made a mistake on immigration. So he’s revered by everyone and preferred by some.”
Trump renews name to get rid of filibuster
Trump renewed his stress marketing campaign on Senate Republicans to get rid of the parliamentary rule recognized the filibuster throughout his assembly.
The president has been calling for Republican management to nix the filibuster for days, however sought to assuage fears that such a transfer would backfire on the celebration if Democrats regained the bulk in future elections.
“The Democrats will do this so if the Democrats are going to do it, I’m saying Republicans should do it before they get a chance,” Trump stated. “If we do it, we are going to by no means lose the midterms and we are going to by no means lose a common election as a result of we can have produced so many alternative issues for our individuals, for the nation, that it might be unattainable to lose an election.”
Trump listed off items of Republican-backed laws that might sail by the chamber if the process was finished away with, together with on measures associated to voter ID legal guidelines, mail-in voting, and immigration.
The filibuster does give energy to the minority celebration to dam laws, however GOP management together with Majority Chief John Thune (R-S.D.) have warned that any transfer to get rid of the filibuster would backfire down the road.
The concept has gained traction amongst some GOP senators together with Sens. Jim Banks (Indiana), Roger Marshall (Kansas), and Tommy Tuberville (Alabama). Nevertheless, Thune has maintained there are at present not sufficient votes to get rid of the rule.
Hungary’s Russian oil purchases on the desk
Trump hedged on whether or not he would push Orbán to finish his nation’s reliance on Russian oil and gasoline, a possible irritant within the relationship because the president has referred to as for Europe to finish all reliance on Russian vitality.
However Trump centered any criticism on Europe as an entire, and appeared to undertake Budapest’s argument that its landlocked standing makes it reliant on a serious pipeline supplying oil from Russia – though critics stated the nation has did not take steps to diversify its provides and its reliance is deliberate.
“They don’t have the advantage of having sea. It’s a great country, it’s a big country, but they don’t have sea,” Trump stated.
“Hungary is in a different position, but many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia, and they have been for years,” Trump stated. Hungary and Slovakia are the 2 European international locations nonetheless importing Russian oil whereas the remainder of the European Union has stopped purchases. Imports of Russian gasoline to Europe was at 11 p.c in 2024, in comparison with over 40 p.c in 2021, the 12 months earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The E.U. agreed in October to get rid of imports of Russian gasoline and oil by Jan. 1 2028.
Trump irritated by Walmart Thanksgiving meal query
Trump grew to become visibly irritated when requested by an NBC Information reporter in regards to the measurement and value of Walmart’s annual vacation meal this 12 months.
When the reporter cited this 12 months’s meal as providing much less meals than final 12 months’s meal, Trump dismissed her as “fake news” and claimed Individuals are “feeling better about the country.”
The president has used the worth of this 12 months’s meal to help his declare that costs have gone down throughout his administration.
On Thursday, the president stated in a put up on TruthSocial that the difficulty of affordability was “dead” for Democrats, once more referencing the price of Walmart’s annual vacation meal.
However he didn’t point out that the meal contains fewer objects this 12 months and that some have been changed with the Walmart model as a substitute of identify manufacturers. Because of this, the meal this 12 months will serve 10 individuals for beneath $4 per individual. Final 12 months, Walmart’s vacation meal served eight individuals for lower than $7 per individual, in response to the corporate’s web site.
Trump’s feedback come after Democrats gained races throughout the nation on Tuesday, largely, by zeroing in on the difficulty of affordability. Trump and Republicans used the identical technique in final 12 months’s presidential elections when their celebration carried out nicely nationwide.
Annual inflation rose to three p.c in September, the identical charge as when he took workplace in January, that means costs are rising on the identical charges as they had been in the course of the finish of the Biden administration.
Trump, Orbán bond on Biden-bashing
Despite the fact that there seems to be a niche between Trump and Orbán over Russian oil-purchases, the deep friendship between the 2 conservatives, populist leaders was on show for the gathered press at first of their lunch assembly.
Orbán was in secure firm to let unfastened his frustrations with the previous Biden administration, wherein he claimed over the course of 4 years “everything was ruined” within the bilateral relationship.
A big pressure was the Biden administration’s imposition of visa restrictions on Hungarian passport holders over Hungary’s naturalization insurance policies. Orbán visited Washington as soon as throughout Biden’s time period, to attend the NATO summit in July 2024.
“Everything was basically broke, ruined, canceled, a lot of harm done by the previous administration,” Orbán stated.
Orbán additionally joked he needed to rent away White Home spokesperson Karoline Leavitt after witnessing her full-throated protection for Trump’s insurance policies and pushback in opposition to the press.
“That’s a very good decision you just made,” Trump joked, however didn’t sign he needed to half with Leavitt.
